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YOUTH & SOCIETY, Vol. 29 No. 4, June 1998 451-470
© 1998 Sage Publications, Inc.

THE GPA PERSPECTIVE
Influences, Significance, and Sacrifices of Students

JEROME RABOW
HEE-JIN CHOI
DARCY PURDY 
UCLA

Jerome Rabow has been a professor of sociology at UCLA since 1965. He has published more than I00 articles in the areas of drunk-driving intervention, gender and money, education, and race relations. He has recently completed The Art of Tutoring a book based on the tutoring experiences of his UCLA students.

Hee-Jin Choi received her B.A. in sociology from UCLA. Since graduating, she has worked in educational research.  She is currently doing graduate studies in education.

Darcy Purdy received her B.A. in sociology from UCLA and is currently working as an elementary school teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

AUTHORS' NOTE: We appreciate the excellent manuscript preparation of Antonette Barretto, Shelly Chien, Euaice Choi, Hanie Klm, Desie Palad and Jennifer Johnston of the Sociology Department and the careful editing of Mireya Saldano.

This research addresses issues generated by the pioneering work of Becker, Geer, and Hughes done in 1959 on the grade point average (GPA) perspective and surveys done 30 years later that further documented the perspective. An interview schedule was designed to have undergraduate students explore, in writing, a number of issues related to the perspective. There were three major findings from this study. Contrary to the Becket et. al findings, the authors found that the perspective is fostered prior to college by parents and grade school teachers and family processes. Second, the strength of the perspective was further documented by students who gave five major reasons for maintaining the perspective. Third, the perspective translated into a set of practices that involve sacrificing health, personal relationship, hobbies, and other interests, Finally, the examination of the influence and power of the perspective seemed to allow students to move from being acted upon (passive) to becoming active (subjects).

In 1959, Howard S. Becket, Blance Geer, and Everett C. Hughes began studying students' perspectives toward academic work at the Univer­sity of Kansas. Their 1968 book, Making the Grade: The Academic Side of College Life, described the adaptation of students to a system that measures academic achievement solely by grades. Becker et. al. (1968) reported that although the faculty assumed and believed that "student performance depends solely on ability and interest," this belief ignored the "complicated network of social relations, group definitions, and obligations in which students found themselves" (p. 130). Because students' emphasis on grades arises in and responds to the grade-oriented academic environment in which they live, students and teachers involved in the educational system give greater importance to the grade point average (GPA) rather than critical learning, under­standing of the material, or both. This importance was conceptualized as the GPA perspective. Although the GPA perspective is described as a major adaptation to college life, the larger context of what else happens to students was neglected by Becker and his students. If we were to ask what else is accomplished by participation in college life, we could note that achieving a college degree (a) enhances participa­tion in political and community activities (Lindsay, Knox, & Kolb, 1991), (b) leads to higher occupational status and higher earnings (Hum, 1993), (c) leads to a more positive self-image and greater interpersonal and intellectual competence, and (d) leads to more liberal views and attitudes (which may or may not endure) toward social issues such as feminism, racial understanding, abortion, and the environment (Astin, 1991).

These conclusions would seem to challenge the validity of Becker et al.'s (1968) work. One could conclude that the GPA perspective that was documented by Becket et al. was a passing, historical phenomena and could be ignored by current research in higher education. Indeed, although the Becker et al. work was reviewed in the major sociological and educational journals (Cox, 1969; Peterson, 1969; Wegner, 1969), the study of the GPA perspective was neglected and attracted no interest. Two contemporary sociology-of-education texts neither men­tion the GPA perspective nor the work by Becket et al. (Ballantine, 1997; Riordan, 1997). In 1988, however, almost 30 years later, a first follow-up to the GPA perspective was published and documented the continuing presence of the perspective at a major elite public univer­sity (Rabow & Hernandez, 1988). Even though Rabow and Hernandez's method differed from Becket et. al.'s qualitative work, the Rabow and Hernandez survey was designed to tap a number of dimensions of the GPA perspective: perceptions of professors, selec­tion of classes, and student behavior. Their findings confirmed that students (a) avoid classes that interest them if it threatens their GPA, (b) do the minimum necessary for the GPA they want, and (c) calculate the ways in which the various aspects of the university contribute to their "making the grade." Although their empirical study documented the continued importance and prevalence of a GPA perspective in college life, it also failed to address a number of questions.

A second study (Rabow, Radcliff-Vasile, Newcomb, & Hemandez, 1992), which was designed to address some of these unresolved issues and broaden the scope of prior work, assessed (a) if students felt that the GPA accurately reflected their intellectual abilities and (h) if the perspective worked (meaning how much does the GPA perspective actually influence--positively or negatively--the objective GPA?). This study's main conclusions were that (a) students believed that their actual GPA failed to represent their intellectual abilities and self-esteem, and (b) students believed that improvements in their objective GPA were due to strategic applications of the perspective. 

The latter study failed to examine at least three issues addressed by the current study. Are there factors that influence the GPA perspective prior to college entrance? Becker et al.'s (1968) work stressed the GPA perspective as a response to the college environment and did not examine possible external influences on the perspective. A second question relates to the importance of the GPA perspective. Becket argued that the GPA was the "coin of the realm." We believe that such a meaning is too grandiose and that it fails to specify how such importance would translate into the behavior of students. We addressed what it is that students believe to be valuable in holding a GPA perspective. What do they gain? This article assumes that although college students may indeed change attitudes and learn, they do so within a framework that limits their interests. A GPA orientation may inhibit many of the positive accomplishments of a college degree. Thus, although we limit our study to the continued examination and documentation of this perspective, we do so because we believe it to be still highly significant in the lives of college students.

METHOD

Twenty-seven upper division students in a small seminar class titled "The Social Psychology of Tutoring" focused on primary school materials by reading a number of critiques of public education in the United States (Dennison, 1969; Kohl, 1967; Kozol, 1991; Rose, 1995), Canada (McLaren, 1994), Brazil (Freire, 1970), Australia (Ashton-Warner, 1986), and Japan (Lewis, 1995). For their final paper, we asked students to identify, explore, and evaluate the GPA perspective in their own lives by reading two prior studies of the GPA perspective. They were also provided a set of questions (see Figure 1) that asked them to explore the possible development and growth of the GPA perspective and the significance of the perspective on other parts of their lives. Students were asked to explore the five questions posed to them and were requested to keep notes throughout the quarter and present a final paper that would count for 50% of their grade. The professor indicated that papers, which would have no names and only student ID numbers, would be graded by a graduate student who did not know the students. Students were thus discouraged from playing up to the professor and the professor's research. To ensure under­standing of the methodology and findings of the prior GPA research, the papers were discussed in three small groups of nine students each. These small group discussions were conducted throughout the quarter on all assigned reading material, thus minimizing the attention on the GPA research. The discussion method (Rabow, Charness, Radliffe-Vasile, & Kipperman, 1993) stresses knowledge of the material and the relevance or lack of relevance of the authors' ideas and findings to the students. Student papers are the basis for the results of this study. An analysis was completed upon these papers by the junior authors who sought to identify themes in the papers (Emerson, 1995).

RESULTS

All 27 students documented the prevalence and power of the GPA perspective in their lives. Two quotes, one from a male and the other from a female, exemplify the strength of this orientation.

This paper has made me become more aware of the impact that the GPA had on my life. Three years ago, striving for the highest GPA was the number one priority in my life. As a result, the decisions that I had made about my life often involved the GPA. Friends that I had chosen must be able to help me study better. I slept six hours each day, because I thought that six was the optimal time for producing the highest GPA.

The GPA had a powerful grip on my life, but the GPA was also deceptive. (20-F)

Writing this paper has forced me to confront myself and the ways in which the education system in America has influenced me. This has not been an easy paper for me to write. At first, I was embarrassed to apply the GPA Perspective to my experience. I was ashamed because I thought that it was bad W admit that I have done well in school without recognizing that the GPA Perspective is a reflection of my life experi­ence. (11-M)

      Becker et al. (1968) assumed that the perspective was merely an adaptation to college academic measure, but in this research we searched for earlier influences that stressed grades as being critical. We found that the GPA perspective had roots in family life, primary school, and social class.

EFFECTS OF BACKGROUND

Past experiences, usually non-school-related, have a profound ef­fect on the impressions of the educational system held by students. Positions in school are determined in large part by family background. Coleman et al. (1966) and Jencks et al. (1972) found that one half or two thirds of students' achievement relates to nine variables and especially socioeconomic level (Greenwood & Hickman, 1991). In a sense, family processes are a better predictor of positive achievement and grades than all other variables (Dornbusch & Ritter, 1992). 

The students in this study reflect the many kinds of home environ-meats or family processes that influence students' orientation to school. Social class, race, immigrant status, parental involvement in school, and family aspirations were referred to by the respondents (Rubin & Borgers, 1991).

Children of Immigrants

Parental origins were frequently referred to as a foundation for the experiences students had in school. Often these experiences detracted from school.

I was brought up in a household where the parents could not speak English and could not deal with day-to-day problems of living in America. During the 18 years that I have lived in the U.S.A., I have dealt with everything from settling my dad's parking tickets to being present with lawyers when my dad wanted to write his will. I was 8 years old when I was reserving airline tickets for my parents and 12 years old when I took out an insurance policy on my parents' home. (My parents) were working too much and too hard to care about my grades. They thought I should not have a career and should just get married. (9-F)

The demands of her family took away from her ability to fully engage in adapting to a new environment and school program. Another student describes her difficulty in adapting due to the inability of her family to help her with and involve themselves in her education.

My parents, my sister, and I are all from Buenos Aires. 3ergcarina. We always speak Spanish around the house and that is what I blame my poor vocabulary on .... My parents really couldn't help me with the work either because they weren't familiar with the English language and any other of the lessons. (14-F)

Not all children of immigrants suffered from a lack of family understanding and aspirations and inability to help. Sometimes the influence was positive. A female reports,

My parents are immigrants to this country and neither of them com­pleted a 4-year university program. My mother went to vocational school and my father was forced to quit in order to fight in the Yom Kippur War .... My father has high hopes and often expectations for his children who are privileged enough to go to school.., my parents invested in my education. (6-F)

This student also feels the pressure to succeed in a new system with no help from her family in the home. Student themes mostly reveal the lack of guidance received by immigrant students. However, this difficulty also translated to an increased sense of pride on the part of both students and parents at times of success.

Race and Class

American students of color often compared themselves to White students and saw barriers not encountered by others. One woman pointed out the difference between her experience and that of upper-or middle-class Whites.

I believe that as a minority woman I have so many obstacles to cross that others don't. There have been a few times where I try to see how different my life would be if I was an upper-middle-class White male .... I wouldn't have to worry about not fitting in, or about being discriminated upon because of race or gender. (2-F)

 Another woman of color sees class background as a barrier to academic success.

Upper-middle-class parents taught their children from day one that high grades are the key to a happy and secure future. (3-F)

As if to support these two students, a White woman confirms her success as based on class.

I attended high school in Colorado for I year (at one of the best districts in the state); after my family moved to California I spent grades 10-12 at a school which is rated among the top five high schools in Southern California .... I have always attended public school, and feel I've had half a dozen teachers who made a significant proactive impact on my educational outlook and confidence .... I was exposed to college-level work beginning my freshman year in high school and entered UCLA with two quarters, and my father holds a J.D. as well. My family's house overflows with books and music, and I began reading before preschool. (15-F)

Family Processes

The family processes independent of class, race, and immigrant status were also critical. One student describes his motivation for studying as a result of his household environment.

If my parents started yelling or beating me, I would go to the local 7-Eleven, play video games for a couple of hours and eat as many candy bars I could afford. 1 would say that this behavior persisted until the tenth grade, when I decided that I needed to lose weight and wanted to gain acceptance by the "in" crowd. I had no trouble losing the weight, but I needed to find a new way to escape my family. This is when I turned to school. I began studying all of the time. (11-M)

Other students' accounts reflect their parents' disagreement with decisions to pursue a college career. Both male and female students were strongly influenced by family dynamics.

My dad never graduated from high school. For him school is just a place where you learn how to learn. He would be very happy if I dropped out of school and started working for him. (5-M)

College is nothing like high school to begin with. There are many things that changed dramatically for me when I came to college. I believe that my socioeconomic background had a great deal of effect on my transition. First let me start off by comparing my parents' behavior towards schooling from high school to college. Both my parents don't have an education past the first and second grade. They come from a working family that had to work in order to eat, so education was not what they had in mind.... My parents thought that I was using school as an excuse to leave home. (2-F)

The parental opinions and attitudes in the example expressed above reflect the different postures that students bring to education and achievement. Some students have homes that focus exclusively on school and grades. Students' reveal how pervasive and deep the importance of the GPA is for the parents.

My parents used to say: "Don't wash the dishes. Your only responsibil­ity as a kid is school. So go right upstairs and do your homework." (10-F)

Getting As was the only achievement that I remember would catch my parents' attention. (8-M)

Other parents, who do not understand the school system or have gotten by without college degrees, pose a challenge to students who are motivated by society to excel and pursue a formal education. Thus, the achievement and emphasis on grades does not begin in college. When parents emphasize grades, they seem to do so without ambiva­lence or doubts as to the value of what they are doing.

REASONS FOR GPA PERSPECTIVE

In Becket et al.'s (1968) work, the emphasis on grades as being the coin of the realm suggested that the perspective was a powerful desired resource and goal. However, Becket et. al was so critical of the GPA perspective that he failed to see how having a high GPA might provide benefits to students. We found a second set of themes involved the reasons students cited for the importance of the GPA perspective. Five reasons for the GPA's importance were emphasized by students. These included (a) the desire to go to graduate school; (b) "treats" or "perks"; (c) responding to social judgments; (d) approval and acceptance from peers, family, and teachers; and (e) competing with others.

Graduate School Admittance

The prevailing reason for GPA importance is the desire to be accepted into a respectable graduate school. This was repeatedly emphasized by students who insist on the necessity of a high GPA to obtain success or happiness after graduation.

I do feel that I gauge the amount of effort I need to put into my school work by my GPA simply because medical schools place such an important emphasis on the GPA factor of a medical school application. They seem to judge your sincerity to become a physician as well as your ability to become one based on the GPA. (9-F)

Once the students are accepted to a high-level university, they are still under the pressure of getting to the next level. Students are caught in an ever-stretching ladder and often feel compelled to give impor­tance to the standards set before them.

I'll keep my grades up and fend off worries that 1 might jeopardize my chances for entry into postgraduate clinical psych program. (15-F) Once already in the university, I must work hard at my GPA in order to stay here. I must also think about graduate school. All of this will someday lead to a life where I go to work to job I enjoy, not one I hate. (2-F)

***** TOO BLURRY*****

Treat and Perks

Another practical reason for maintaining a high GPA deals with maintaining the special perks of school programs. The desire for perks seems to have been introduced to students at earlier stages of develop­ment. Consider what these three students say of their early school days:

So when teachers started putting stickers on my spelling tests or math tests when I did well, I felt that the teacher was happy with me and I was proud of myself. (9-F)

What I learned from my elementary school days was that achievement led to rewards from teachers such as gifts, stars, extra play time, or verbal praise. This led me to continue to strive for high achievement and to a sense of being smarter which eventually led to a high intellec­tual self-esteem. (4-F)

I have always been conditioned to feel special when I scored well on an exam. From the time we begin school, teachers give us small treats for doing well. I particularly loved seeing my papers displayed on the wall for all to see. (16-F)

To obtain signs of approval, these students feel it necessary to obtain and maintain good grades. These strategies prevailed in college. Students who received scholarships or financial aid see the GPA as critical for those benefits.

Maintaining the GPA cutoff for College Honors allows me priority enrollment, scholarships, and access to professors that other students do not have--true incentives that improve my UCLA experience by eliminating some bureaucratic complications and encouraging devel­opment of relationships with teachers. (15-F)

Although these treats and perks may seem minor and insignificant, these students expressed strong feelings about the impact of gifts and recognition in their elementary to college years. Being rewarded for a good grade seems to "capture" youngsters' imagination. 'These re­wards are available throughout school and give the impression of success. These rewards, and the resulting feelings, create self-esteem, but such self-esteem is not based on students learning for themselves what is or is not important or what is or is not "learning." They are responding to and focusing on the benefits and perks--4he rewards of a high GPA.

Response to Social Judgements

Students also consider the GPA to be important because it is oft¢~ a marker that allows them to negotiate their status in the social worM. Being externally oriented, they seek individual comparisons based on social judgments.

Individual worth is based on individual achievement. Because grades are a way of assessing one's potential, I have adopted the GPA perspec­tive as a way to maximize my achievements. (11-M) 

I have been educated in a system in which grades have been the measurement of my achievements--in a system, in which hard work, talent, and commitment arc only rewarded through grades. (12-M)

These social judgments offer solace to many, but few students seem to have a tree sense of their own abilities. One student reveals the fragility of academic self-evaluation:

I, like everyone else, have been conditioned to think that the GPA is extremely important because that is the way others evaluate us and our academic achievements .... I put so much pressure on myself, feeling that a good GPA meant that I was smarter and I wanted to be smart. I do not think that my GPA represents how intelligent I am or how much I have learned. (16-F)

Students confirm that the perspective originates in file early years of school. But this stress on achievement is not a measure of abilities or potential. It is rather a measure of fragile academic social judgments.

Need for Approval and Acceptance

Perhaps the most powerful reason for maintaining high GPA lies in a strong need for recognition, approval, and acceptance. Students sought these rewards through their teachers and parents, but looking back many expressed regret and sadness when recalling their motive for doing good work. In this case, acknowledgment of good grades is a scapegoat for a busy or preoccupied parent and is the method through which more than one student found love and attention in the home.

I remember my grades being important to me in about the fifth grade, and although my parents never gave money for grades as some parents did, I was very intent on winning their approval in the scholastic department, being an "achiever" and eldest kid, and a "pleasing child" It was at the age of 11, in my first year of junior high school, when I was given letter grades for the first time, and received all As on my report card. Seeing that report card made me feel so proud and my parents were so happy. 1 realized how nice it felt, and how many compliments I received.... I wanted to feel like that always. (16-F)

Attention was also desired in the school setting:

I realized that I did best in the classes where the teacher liked me the most and would single me out for my accomplishments. [ really liked the attention, and when I was acknowledged. (14-F)

I was intensely competitive for teacher approval, which I usually got, and would go so far as to slip my work folder underneath everyone else's so that it would look like 1 was done first, (15-F)

However, some students could never obtain love and recognition either in school or at home.

Throughout elementary school and junior high, when 1 came home with Bs or B+s in my report card, I didn't hear "Congratulations, son?' The response I would get from my parents were "Why not an A?" or "Why just a B or B+?'... I grew up believing that the only good thing that could come out of school were As and A+s. (8-M)

The pressure felt by students, as early as elementary school, to bring home a specific level of grades often worked against students feeling loved even when they got the grades their parents wanted. One student recalls the details and strong feelings associated with parents who stress "grades only":

My dad and stepmom never got along. They married when I was 5, and for 12 years I had to live in the middle of the war. At times, I was acc used for their strife, other times l was the recipient of tongue-lashings or physical abuse... The library was nice because it was a safe place for me to hide from my parents. At the park, across the street from the library, I met my closest friend in high school... [he] was a voracious marijuana smoker, and naturally was looking for a friend to get high with .... To this day my dad does not know that I smoked marijuana throughout high school. I think the reason is because I was doing well in school.... I knew that by doing well in school there would be no possible way my dad would suspect that I got high. My dad loved to talk about me in his office. This put a lot of pressure on me to perform. I did not want to let my dad down, nor did I want him to be ashamed of his only son. Doing well in school was my way of giving my dad something to talk about, something to take pride in. With this pride came attention. When report cards were issued my dad always came home early and took me out to dinner. As I remember, these are only times I got to spend some quality time with my dad. (1l-M)

The excerpts reveal how acceptance and love is sought by students in and through school achievement. Acceptance and approval, in the examples above, translate to feelings of accomplishment and self-worth. However, love, linked to performance, left some students with mixed feelings.

Competition

The fifth reason students felt the need to obtain a high GPA is based on high levels of competition in and outside of the classroom. Com­petition was not initiated by students but by teachers and parents.

In my junior year English class, my instructor commented, "If you want to see an outstanding paper, you should all look at D's paper." (4-M)

This same student felt the competition at home as well.

(My parents) always told me how proud they were when I brought home a report card. They then compared my sister to me and made me feel like a superior student. I received the brains of the family. (4-M)

Another male student responded in a similar vein:

Children are constantly being compared to their peers based on their grades, in school, and outside of school. For example, I have been compared to many of my close friends. I have either been used as a role model for my close friends, or placed in a position of competing with them. During fourth grade and fifth grade my best friend's mother, who herself happened to be an elementary school teacher, would put my best friend, A, in the most uncomfortable position by telling him how good of a student I was and that he should learn to raise his grades to reach my intelligence level. I always hated what she did. (12-M)

Comments like these were expressed throughout the student papers and show a matter-of-fact approach to competition in education and a fierce anger at the imposition of adults in establishing this competition among schoolmates.

When we were young we (my sister and I) used to compete in school.... I remember a time when my sister received straight As on her report card. I got all As and one B. My sister was only in the third grade. Well when we were sitting at the table eating dinner my sister said she would pray for me. So that next time I could do better on my report card. I was so mad at hen (13-F)

One student revealed a need to do well in school because he felt like he could not excel in other areas of interest to his age group.

It may have just been a competitive drive in me. I wasn't very good with sports, or hobbies like music, dancing, clubbing, or "girlfriends" that would have made me popular or a "winner" with my friends....  But the academic arena felt like my own territory. Throughout high school, my friends, family, teachers, and my counselor rewarded me with kindness, attention, and excellence for my high achievements in classes. (8-M)

So academic achievement, or rather a high GPA, can place one apart from the rest and give those students with abilities in certain tasks the chance to shine. With the importance of the classroom in determining self-worth and talent, students felt the "naturalness" of competition and learned to live with hostility among classmates, friends, and siblings.

SACRIFICES MADE FOR THE GPA

As is evident from earlier work, adapting the GPA perspective involves hours--not only for studying but also in planning how to avoid the studying that would not be directed toward obtaining a certain grade. Given the pressures of obtaining a high GPA, what implications does that have on a student's other activities and hobbies.

Students unanimously agreed that they sacrifice for their GPA. The sacrifice comes in three main areas: (a) personal relationships; (h) health; and (c) postponing or quitting an activity, hobby, or job.

It seems that grades mean so much to me now that people sometimes don't matter. (10-F)

I have not only lost touch with people in most classes at school, but also at home I have lost touch with my family, because I am barely home. i have practically sacrificed my family, because I am barely home. I have practically sacrificed my family time ever since I came to UCLA. Sometimes, 7 or 8 days lapse, without seeing my father, who lives in the same house. Also I have missed so many family occasions due to studying and exams that I sometimes get the feeling my uncles and aunts have forgotten all about mc. (12-M)

I do not think I went out more than once or twice with my friends during the entire quarter. (9-F)

 A male student describes the consequences of sacrifice on his body:

I am the type of person who is willing to sacrifice my health, my family/social time, and interests in order to get a high GPA. I never had a migraine before. My health has started diminishing ever since the summer of 1994--starting first with major headaches, and then a series of colds, followed by a bad case of stomach flu, and more recently, digestion problems. A lot of this is a result of stress, an unbalanced way of life, meaning sleepless nights of cramming. (12-M)

One female student revealed a shocking admission of suffering health due to school demands:

***** TOO BLURRY*****

I was training for the Peer Helpline that quarter, but I dropped out so I could dedicate more time to studying, (10-F)

I decided to give up a lot of my personal frec time and to stop working in the research lab for a quarter while I was taking thc MCAT courses and Functional Histology. (9-F)

Giving up these extracurricular activities or being so careful as to whert they were scheduled was something I had never done before. (9-F) 

From the excerpts provided in this article, we can conclude that students take pride in a high GPA and translate rewards and acknowledgment into feelings of personal confidence and ability. This obser­vation conflicts with earlier findings (Rabow et al., 1992), which implies that students who earn good grades feel luck rather than pride. 

FROM OBJECT TO SUBJECT

After reading works about the GPA and being asked to examine their own GPA experiences, students began to struggle with a system of rewards by criticizing the competitive atmosphere fostered by a GPA-oriented environment. The students indicated that they were the victims of parents, teachers, and peers who stressed the importance of a high GPA in order to achieve success.

Whether students can overcome this dilemma is unclear. That they began to struggle with it is obvious.

Good grades and high GPAs are still meaningful in our society. But I think that this paper has given an opportunity to see that the GPA perspective can also be limiting. To define the self only in terms of an objective score does not do me any justice. Whether I get a bad grade or good grades does not reflect the capacity that I have to be creative, to think critically, to integrate book learning with life experiencing, and to feel for others. Reflecting on the past has helped me open up my future. Although I do not think that I can simply discount any of the work I have done in my educational career in our school system, l should not solely rely on them. The GPA is not meaningless, but it doesn't have the meaning that it has always had for me anymore. (8-F)

I am an object, merely absorbing what I need to get a good grade. Writing this paper has motivated me to become a subject. (19-F)

Further research should focus on the effects of a poor GPA on university students and the ways in which those students deal with low grades. In addition, we suggest research on primary and college level students who may not buy into the GPA perspective. How and why do they survive? These would seem to be critical questions for an educa­tional system that "rewards avoidance behavior" and discourages critical learning through its severe emphasis on grades rather than learning.

CONCLUSIONS

The GPA perspective is defined as "the mechanism by which a student determines what he or she has to do to achieve the desired grade and bypass deeper learning" Twenty-seven students described a number of themes that have escaped past research on the GPA perspective. This research has demonstrated the power that the per­spective still has upon the energies, minds, and feelings of students. The significance of the GPA perspective has been extended by this article, which has documented the effects of three additional variables: (a) the early school and family experiences that undermine or support the perspective reasons, (b) the functions and reasons for the mainte­nance of the GPA perspective, and (c) sacrifices made for the GPA. These social and personal factors are central to an understanding of the pervasive effects of the GPA perspective on students.

The reasons for GPA importance, as expressed by these university students, are disturbing and yet understandable. Many of the quotes display the overwhelming hunger in students to be heard, respected, and accepted, especially when learning new ideas and making new discoveries on a day-to-day basis in schools. The GPA perspective dominates student lives.

If I wanted recognition in school I needed good grades, if I wanted my friends to think I was smart I needed good grades, if wanted to go to UCLA, I needed good grades. And most importantly, if I wanted to go to medical school I needed good grades. (6-F)

Students, then, are caught in a bind between what they enjoy doing and what they feel is most important for the academic agenda. They sacrifice family, friends, extracurricular activities, jobs, and health to gain more time for studying and to obtain approval, respect, and status that is probably ephemeral.

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Becket, H. S., CJeer, B., & Hughes, E. C. (1968). Making the grade: The academic side of college life. New York: John Wiley.

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