Thesis: Eliminating the current standard grading system would encourage more students to

be engaged in class and also promote higher self-esteem.

Farenga, Patrick. "It Takes More Than "Democratic Education" To Make School

Meaningful For Students." Encounter 24.2 (2011): 28-33. Education Research

Complete. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

In “It Takes More Than Democratic Education To Make School Meaningful for Students”,

Farenga talks about democratic education to criticize disengaged students who just study for

achieving higher grades. He gives one example where grading schools have social problems

because elected officials do not understand civil rights and responsibilities, even though they

have attended school for many years, in order to criticize forced learning. To resolve this

problem, Farenga suggests that child-centered free schools such as Summerhill, Sudbury

Valley, and the Albany Free School should be more represented to meet the real needs in

students’ life. He also states that “race, class, and gender issues are not equalized in school”

(Farenga 31) nowadays because students only regard their academic rankings as important

factors in their lives, in order to go to college and work. He illustrates that the reason schools

have less vacation, more tutoring, and more test preparations is that there is a lack of money

and time to enforce various programs that focus on students’ participation. The author points

out that it is important to view education as a natural and ongoing human activity connected

to living a good life. He presents the solutions of funding the local library, running a

neighborhood basketball league, and uniting some core principles which are from non-

grading and grading schools (28-33).

Evaluation: The thesis focuses on whether eliminating the current grading system would lead

students to have more engagement or not, but this book also includes the points that can unite

both the benefits of non-grading and grading schools. At that point, this paper cannot be

connected to the thesis, which emphasizes that the grading system must be eliminated.

However, this paper can have good press because the author analogized free schools, such as

Montessori, as democratic schools and explained them in detail.

Gay, James E., and Thomas Rueth. "The Negative Side Effects Of Retention, Academic

Competition, And Punishment." Education 113.3 (1993): 434. Education

Research Complete. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

In “The Negative Side Effects of Retention, Academic Competition, And Punishment”, Gay

classifies that the negative side effects of grading systems into three sections, which are

retention, academic competition, and punishment. First of all, he gives an example that

illustrates how blinded teachers are to the real outcomes of retention, which only makes

students concentrate on the academic work. Mrs. Brown, who is Clayton’s teacher, was

concerned about Clayton’s academic performance because he had difficulty paying attention

to his work. Clayton felt stressed because he faced his parents’ separation at home. She

discovered that he needed some time to adjust to his new family situation at home first, no

matter how important it is for him to focus on studying at school. Secondly, the author also

explains that academic competition for grades leads students to become less interested in

their subjects because they use all sorts of methods to achieve their academic goals. Finally,

Gay points out that educators use disciplinary procedures such as punishment, which can

cause trauma to students. To illustrate, a middle school principal announced that all students

who had not successfully passed the standardized achievement needed to take a mandatory

tutoring class and he also read the names of the students who had not passed the test in

public. As a result, Joan asked to drop out of school because everybody would think that she

is stupid because she had not passed the exam (Gay 434).

Evaluation: This book is primarily based on the negative aspect of grading systems, so that

it implies that the author may want to suggest that grading systems should be eliminated at

school. The author describes the side effects of the current grading system as three sections,

which are retention, academic competition, and punishment in order to make readers

understand specifically why it is important to eliminate the grading system. Therefore, this

paper is connected to the thesis adversely, in that those negative side effects of grading

system can lead students to having lower self-esteem and disengagement in their academic

work.

Haskins, Cathleen. "Order, Organization, And Beauty In The Classroom: A

Prerequisite, Not An Option." Montessori Life: A Publication Of The American

Montessori Society 24.2 (2012): 34-39. ERIC. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.

In “Order, Organization, and Beauty in the Classroom: A Prerequisite, Not an Option”,

Haskins defines Montessori education as a combination of art and science, and reports which

way this education should go, based on child engagement. He generally highlights that

children should prepare a proper environment that offers order, simplicity, and harmony. To

get the maximum benefit of Montessori method of education, he emphasizes that teachers

have to have a responsibility to arrange, organize, and maintain the materials before children

engage in their work. Moreover, Haskins states that freedom, such as strong decision-making

skills, is necessary for children to make their choice when they choose their career path. He

describes that some children prefer a quiet place because working individually can help to

internalize what they learn and build self-reliance, while others like working with classmates

as it can encourage collaboration, patience, and listening skills. He also points out that a

project needs a mess sometimes because it is also required for children to clean up and put

away. Furthermore, Haskins claims that children have to establish regular routines around

the care of the classroom environment, in order to make them feel comfortable participating

in detailed jobs or simple work. At the end, the author especially points out that beauty is

needed in the classroom because it can make children engage in auto-education and evoke

their interest in learning by experiencing sensibility (Haskins 34-39).

Evaluation: This book shows how non-grading schools work better than the current grading

schools to support the thesis above, by suggesting Montessori’s method of education. The

author does not explain why the grading system should be eliminated and changed into non-

grading system, but he shows one example of alternative education, which is Montessori’s,

in order to express his opinion that non-grading education, such as Montessori’s should be

settled. Therefore, this paper supports the thesis well by illustrating how Montessori

educational system advocates students’ inspiration to learn.