Hoping to encourage students to work harder in school - especially in science - a Miami Cadillac dealer joined with Palmetto Senior High to offer a mega incentive. Yeah, it was a 2004 Cadillac CTS sedan. (Forget that $10 for an A incentive your parents might have offered or, more likely didn't, figuring you should make A's anyway.)

Well, there was an alternate prize, too. If the winning senior - chosen in a lottery and not because of top FCAT science scores, mind you - didn't want the car, which lists at more than $20,000, he or she could have taken a cash prize of $14,000.

Now, we could go on about bribing kids for grades. But we won't. Instead, we'll focus on the choice.

The Palmetto High student newspaper reports that the winning student, named Daniela Geraldo, took the car. This prompts a thought. College sure does cost a lot these days. So we just wonder about the real incentive a car offers. Maybe you drive it to college, if you already can afford it. Maybe you sell it to cover the tuition and fees. Or maybe you just look good in your Caddy while commuting to the job you get instead of college.

Just a thought.

(By the way, Palmetto High did perform better than any other Miami-Dade general high school on the science FCAT last year.)