Milton Harris

Professor Megan Keaton

English 112_15

February 25 2013

GPA Visual Analysis

A fairly recent argument that has been brought to attention in the academic community is the statement: is our current GPA system an appropriate way to measure an individuals intelligence. From this statement stems two sides of the argument, GPA is a great way to measure ones academic abilities, and GPA fails at properly measuring ones ability for it is out dated and only measure a fraction of skills needed to be successful in todays society. The individuals that believe the GPA system is an adequate scale of grading are often challenged with the question, can it be improved. On the other end of the spectrum others believe that the current GPA system fails in almost every aspect, it should not be used to determine ones eligibility and that our grading systems needs nothing short of complete reform.

Many believe that the system can be drastically improved using the principles off of which it was created by just broadening the range in which the system grades students. Whether this method will work or not has yet to be explored in depth or proven. Those who believe the system requires reform are also challenged with the statement, if not the GPA system then what

should we use. Though this question has been answered time and time again none of the answers when applied would be nearly as quick and efficient as the current system.

Image number one favors the side of those who see the GPA scale to be unfair and insufficient. It is a computer-generated comment featuring a series of panels that involves two stick figures, one male one female, discussing their GPAs. The comic concludes with the male stick figure obviously upset by the female figures statement, Really mines a 3.8 everyone says youre smart.

The first thing that can be noticed about this particular comic is the fact that the faces of the characters are in much higher detail than their bodies. The faces feature higher detail than the average stick figures face, making it safe to assume that the illustrator found that the characters facial expressions towards each others conversation was very important. The facial expressions of the girl depicting her as a ditsy, dumb blonde while the mails expressions feature aggravation, frustration, and anger. This enables the reader to get a better sense of the mood within the comic strip.

The dialogue bubbles are the next things to take notice too. The conversation between the two characters is about their GPAs and comparing them to one another. The female character asks the males GPA then states that hers is higher. He then makes the statement that this is because her line of study is significantly easier. This is by far one of the most important aspects to the comic strip. The illustrator attempts to draw the readers eyes to the text by placing it at the top of each panel. As stated before the facial expressions are an important part as well but really aid as a tool to emphasize the text. The style of language used for the dialoged also hints at a sense of humor being that it is short, concise and written in a way that one would talk rather than

write. The sense of humor comes from the use of certain breaks and bold lettering in the text giving a reader a sense of how the conversation is flowing adding to the depth.

The length of the comic strip is an important aspect to look at as well. Noticing that it is short and to the point suggests that the illustrators purpose was to just make a simple point in a humorous way then let the reader fully analyze it to come to his or her own conclusion. This helps to keep a younger audiences attention while delivering a vital point to them, as are the colors, humor, and illustration; these all help to deliver a message to todays youth.

Image two is a photograph that caters to those who believe the GPA system is functions well and does not require reform or replacement. It depicts a girl sitting in class smiling and holding up what appears to be a test she scored really well on with her average in red at the top of the paper. With all this looked at as a whole the image clearly tries to send across a positive message about our current GPA system.

First analyzing the color scheme of the photo one will realize that the theme is mono toned. Everything appears to be in white or within the family of a lighter neutral shade. The color White is usually associated with words such as purity, light, brilliance and perfection. This correlates with the contents of the photograph since the photographer is trying to send across the message that our system is fine the way it is. An interesting detail to take notice to is the fact the girl in the photograph doesnt appear to be a distinct race but rather a mixture of many. The photographer could have done this to allow a broader audience to be able to identify with the girl in the picture. This could have also

been done to eliminate any racial stereotypes that could have been applied to her academic success.

Her facial expression is an obvious sign of her happiness towards her grade she received. A conclusion that could be made is that if she did not have a numerical average to look at she would be unsure of how she placed in the scheme of things. This reinforces the idea that our current system works it just may require small adjustments to modernize it to societys new standards.

The two pictures illustrate two sides of the same argument, the first picture being the bad and the second being the good. Both must be analyzed and compared to one another to get a sense of the true story behind the topic and to come to a logical conclusion.

Image #1

Image #2