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We have to give low marks to a plan to award a scholarship to every Utah student who completes a college prep curriculum and graduates with a B average. The Utah Board of Regents is backing the measure.

Under a bill sponsored by Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, the Regents Scholarship Program would put $1,000 into an interest-bearing account for each eighth-grader who embarks on a specified core curriculum. Those who graduate with a B average would collect about $1,350, which could be used for college. Backers estimate that 7,000 students would meet the requirements each year, costing the state about $7 million.

"We have been very modest and proposed a $1,000 scholarship, but I would like to give them $2,500 or $3,000," said Richard Kendell, the recently retired Utah commissioner of higher education who is acting as a consultant for the plan. "Symbolically that says something very important to a kid in the eighth-grade and to their parents -- stay on task and take these classes, get good grades, and you can go to college."

The intention is admirable, but the plan is a Swiss cheese. More than a dozen states run similar programs with, at best, mixed results. Supporters of Utah's plan say theirs will avoid some mistakes other states have made, such as tolerating vague standards.

We haven't been able to find any data to bolster claims that such a scholarship program motivates students, and it's hard to see how such effects could be measured anyway.

Critics say top students already take tough courses. Bursting with energy and looking ahead to changing the world, those kids don't need more reasons to buckle down and study. In most cases, their parents have instilled the values of achievement and hard work, and society provides plenty of motivation to seek a college degree.

Slackers, by contrast, are immune to motivation. Delayed gratification doesn't make their pulses race. If a thousand bucks is a motivator, it may be judged easier and quicker to flip hamburgers for a few months than to slave over Shakespeare and calculus for four years.

Is a B average worthy of a special reward? Back in the day, we might have argued that a B meant "good." But now we know that it really meant "OK, but nothing special."

For instance, a "B movie" has a low budget and features has-beens in the main roles. No one expects the "B side" of a recording to be a big hit. And when you go to "Plan B," it's only because your first idea didn't pan out.

This is especially true in an age of rampant grade inflation. As in so much of contemporary culture, today's school grades reflect only the appearance of achievement, not its reality. Teachers hand out A's and B's like jelly beans.

A few years ago, a report revealed that eight out of every 10 Harvard students graduate with honors, and many observers have spotted similar inflation at other schools, right down to the high school level. A few years back, about 45 percent of college freshmen said they graduated high school with an A average.

The way things are going, it won't be long before every student will graduate with an A-plus average. Utah could just mail a check to every high schooler who is admitted to college.

If anything, the proposed scholarship program will worsen grade inflation. Students inevitably will go to their teachers to whine that a C will drop their average below B, they'll miss out on the scholarship, their lives will be ruined, and -- oh, please, please, please -- can't the grade be raised? It's these kinds of pressures that have made A's so cheap in the first place.

Besides, if a student isn't already interested in college, why spend taxpayers' money to push him or her into it? College isn't for everyone, and it may be overrated as a guarantor of higher income and higher tax contributions. The burden of repaying student loans, in some fields, virtually negates additional income.

Employers are hunting high and low for skilled people to do much of the technical and hands-on work in today's marketplace. Technical careers should not be discouraged. There are already too many art history majors working as baristas.

We suspect that there may be a dirty little secret in the scholarship proposal: Getting $1,350 for your B average may merely mean that you will get $1,350 less from other aid sources.

In the end (or perhaps the beginning) it isn’t the state government’s job to motivate eighth-graders to sign up for college. Parents are supposed to do that. Teachers, counselors and other figures can help, but ultimately the choice belongs to the young people themselves. It’s part of growing up.

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