This study explored 130 secondary school students' conceptions of learning using an open-ended task, analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Students' reality of learning comprised two separate spheres, ideal learning and school learning, which rarely interacted. Generally, students commented more about school than ideal learning. Factor analysis of learning conception categories revealed separate "grand" categories for each sphere and some shared ones. Strikingly, students held complex, deeper conceptions of ideal learning (as self-interest/curiosity, understanding, and knowledge acquisition), but these were separate from their conceptions of school learning as merely the minimal, surface compliance necessary to survive the system by "satisficing" [Simon, H. A. (1955). A behavioral model of rational choice. "The Quarterly Journal of Economics," 69(1), 99-118]--satisfying and sufficing--the teachers (grades, task completion, and active class participation). Theoretical and educational implications were discussed regarding classroom instruction to heighten educators' awareness of students' thinking about learning. (Contains 3 tables.)