1. Thesis: Eliminatingthe 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. EducationResearch
Complete. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
In “It Takes More Than DemocraticEducationTo Make School Meaningful for Students”,
Farenga talks about democratic educationto criticize disengagedstudents who just study for
achieving higher grades. He gives one example where grading schools have social problems
because electedofficials do not understand civil rights and responsibilities, eventhough they
have attended school for many years, in order to criticize forcedlearning. To resolve this
problem, Farenga suggests that child-centeredfreeschoolssuchas Summerhill, Sudbury
Valley, and the Albany Free School shouldbe more representedto 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 onlyregard their academic rankings as important
factors intheir lives, in order to go to college andwork. He illustrates that the reasonschools
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 onstudents’participation. The author points
out that it is important to view educationas a natural and ongoing human activity connected
to living a goodlife. He presents the solutions of fundingthe local library, running a
neighborhoodbasketball league, and uniting some core principleswhichare from non-
grading and grading schools (28-33).

2. Evaluation: The thesis focusesonwhether eliminatingthe 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
connectedto the thesis, which emphasizes that the grading system must be eliminated.
However, this paper can have goodpress because the author analogized free schools, suchas
Montessori, as democratic schools andexplained them in detail.
Gay, James E., and Thomas Rueth. "The Negative Side Effects OfRetention, Academic
Competition, And Punishment." Education 113.3 (1993):434. Education
ResearchComplete. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
In “The Negative Side Effects of Retention, Academic Competition, And Punishment”, Gay
classifiesthat the negative side effectsof gradingsystems into three sections, whichare
retention, academic competition, and punishment. First of all, he gives an example that
illustrates howblinded teachers are to the real outcomes of retention, which only makes
students concentrate onthe academic work. Mrs. Brown, who is Clayton’s teacher, was
concernedabout Clayton’s academic performance because he had difficulty paying attention
to his work. Clayton felt stressed because he faced his parents’ separationat home. She
discovered that he needed some time to adjust to his new family situationat home first, no
matter how important it is for him to focus onstudying at school. Secondly, the author also
explains that academic competitionfor grades leads students to become less interestedin
their subjects because they use all sorts of methods to achieve their academic goals. Finally,

3. Gay points out that educators use disciplinaryproceduressuchas punishment, which can
cause trauma to students. To illustrate, a middle school principal announced that all students
who had not successfullypassedthe standardized achievement needed to take a mandatory
tutoringclass and he also read the names of the students who had not passed the test in
public. As a result, Joanasked to dropout of school because everybodywould think that she
is stupid because she had not passed the exam (Gay 434).
Evaluation: This book is primarilybased onthe negative aspect of grading systems, so that
it implies that the author may want to suggest that grading systems shouldbe eliminatedat
school. The author describes the side effects of the current gradingsystem as three sections,
which are retention, academic competition, and punishment in order to make readers
understand specificallywhy it is important to eliminate the grading system. Therefore, this
paper is connectedto the thesis adversely, in that those negative side effectsof grading
system can lead students to having lower self-esteem and disengagement in their academic
work.
Haskins, Cathleen. "Order, Organization, And BeautyIn The Classroom:A
Prerequisite, Not An Option." Montessori Life: A PublicationOf 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 Montessorieducationas a combinationof art and science, andreports which
way this education should go, based on childengagement. He generallyhighlights that

4. childrenshouldprepare a proper environment that offers order, simplicity, and harmony. To
get the maximum benefit of Montessori methodof education, he emphasizes that teachers
have to have a responsibilityto arrange, organize, and maintain the materials before children
engage in their work. Moreover, Haskins states that freedom, suchas strongdecision-making
skills, is necessaryfor childrento make their choice whenthey choose their careerpath. He
describes that some childrenprefer aquiet place because working individually can help to
internalize what they learnand build self-reliance, while others like workingwith classmates
as it can encourage collaboration, patience, and listeningskills. He also points out that a
project needs amess sometimesbecause it is also requiredfor childrento cleanup and put
away. Furthermore, Haskins claims that childrenhave to establishregular routines around the
care of the classroom environment, inorder to make them feel comfortable participatingin
detailedjobs or simple work. At the end, the author especiallypoints out that beauty is
neededin the classroom because it canmake childrenengage in auto-educationand evoke
their interest inlearningby experiencingsensibility (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 methodof education. The
author does not explain why the grading system shouldbe eliminatedand changed into non-
grading system, but he shows one example of alternative education, which is Montessori’s, in
order to express his opinionthat non-grading education, such as Montessori’s shouldbe
settled. Therefore, this paper supports the thesis well by illustrating how Montessori
educational system advocates students’ inspiration to learn.