Motivating the unmotivated child

I have a child who for purposes of this discussion shall remain anonymous. We will refer to this child as "Pat," which as Saturday Night Live viewers know can be either a male or a female name.

Pat is very intelligent. Pat has talents that he/she/it is either unaware of, or chooses to ignore because acknowledging those talents' existence might mean there is work to be done. And Pat avoids work whenever possible.

Pat gets very good grades. Those grades could be in the "excellent" range if Pat would be willing to give more than the minimum effort required.

Actually, the effort Pat puts into doing "just enough" is impressive. Pat expends more energy getting just above the line of what's required than he/she/it would if they actually, you know, tried their best. If you look at Pat's grades online, you will see a long line of percentages at or just above the 90% mark: 90.3, 90.1, 90.4, 93.1 (that last class is one that requires a 93% for an 'A').

Because our educational system tends to reward a just-good-enough effort, Pat sees no need to go above and beyond the level of effort that Pat is currently giving. This works now, but it will not work later in life. Terry and I try to tell Pat this, but the message falls on deaf ears.

How do I get Pat to understand all the possibilities that are out there for him/her/itself if he/she/it WOULD JUST BEAR DOWN A LITTLE AND TRY. JUST TRY, PAT! THAT'S ALL I'M ASKING!

I have three possible solutions:

(a) Show Pat pictures of homeless people sleeping on the street and emphasize that this could very easily be Pat in 10 years.

(b) Actually make Pat sleep in the street with the homeless people to drive this point home.

(c) Repeatedly bludgeon Pat's thick skull with a heavy object in the hope that this action will beat some sense into Pat.

I'm thinking about going with option (d) "all of the above."