“I can’t make C’s any more.”

The admission by a Lincoln County ninth-grader during thisweek’s Reality Town illustrates why the Junior Auxiliary-sponsoredevent is important and the potential benefits it could have onstudents and their futures.

More than 500 freshmen from all schools in Lincoln Countyreceived a dose of “reality” by having the opportunity to makereal-life decisions on such things as what kind of car to drive,where to live, what kind of food to purchase and other activitiesthat adults make every day.

The key – and the reason why the young student’s comment is sotelling – is that how much money the students had to spend on theirfuture lives’ necessities and amenities was based on their currentschool grades.

Those students who had good grades had more to spend, and thuscould afford more and nicer things, while those on the other end ofthe grade spectrum had to make ends meet with less. Under the JAscenario, A-grade students had almost twice as much money as thosewho were just getting by or who were failing.

Many adults view today’s young people as wanting to make bigsalaries without having to do any work or do as little as possible.Whether that view is true is questionable.

But the reality, as students learned this week, is that in thevast majority of cases there is a direct correlation between effortand success. The more effort put forth now leads to more successlater.