When I was a kid the highest grade you could get is an A (no pluses or anything) and there was a number grade showing effort from 1-4 with 1 being the best effort. I had a lot of A4's, I was capable of the work but I put no effort in and it was apparent to my teachers.

Even when I went to university I resisted putting effort in, things had come so easy through elementary and high school... I am a little worried for my son, that he will not develop study skills as he is a genius (his IQ is in the 99.9 percentile, I didn't even know that was possible).