GPA is also a measure of compliance and subordination.
Bullshit. No one forces you to go to college. Presumably, if you're there, it's because you want to be. Working hard and getting good grades might just mean that you want to get as much out of the experience as possible.
It might also reflect an understanding that getting a good GPA expands your options. For example, good grades may improve eligibility for more financial aid options, it may open up better grad schools, etc.
Painting GPA as a measure of how much people are willing to subjugate themselves to the big bad evil system might make for a good punk song, but it hardly reflects the reality of modern society.
You would be surprised at how many people aren't going to college because they want to.
GPA is a measure of how well you can follow the rules, though in some cases (more difficult degrees such as those in engineering) it also is a measurement of how hard you work.
In modern society you are expected to go to college in the majority of cases, it is now the norm.
Speak for yourself. Almost everyone I knew in high school (typical upper-middle-class kids) in the first part of the '00s when I was there was forced to go to college. Their parents had groomed them from an early age for college, and no other options were on the table.
In the same vein in which they aren't forced to go to college, they could get up and leave the country if they wanted to, or go get a sex change, or hang themselves in the closet. Certainly they are physically capable of doing such things, but they aren't exactly likely, either.
A college degree doubles your income compared to a high school degree. If you only have a high school degree, you are viewed as an incompetent buffoon. You will also struggle to scrape by in many areas, let alone raise a family.
"Working hard and getting good grades might just mean that you want to get as much out of the experience as possible."
Ha. I've been in college six and a half years (I know, nothing I should brag about) and this is false on its face. If you want to get as much out of the college experience as possible, even in terms of pure academic learning, you're not gonna maximize GPA. Sorry. I'd rather lose some grade points because I half-assed some busywork than piss away time I could spend pouring myself into something deep and interesting.
GPA is a measure of how well you did what your professors wanted you to do. A lot of professors want you to do something clever and smart, but a lot of professors want you to waste your time on pointless time-wasting exercises to learn something you already know.
Bullshit. No one forces you to go to college. Presumably, if you're there, it's because you want to be. Working hard and getting good grades might just mean that you want to get as much out of the experience as possible.
It might also reflect an understanding that getting a good GPA expands your options. For example, good grades may improve eligibility for more financial aid options, it may open up better grad schools, etc.
Painting GPA as a measure of how much people are willing to subjugate themselves to the big bad evil system might make for a good punk song, but it hardly reflects the reality of modern society.