At my son’s middle school parent information night, in his speech to parents, the student dean said, “I’m sure that being back here reminds you of your own time in middle school, and many of you probably don’t have the best memories of that time—neither do I. But let me tell you that here at ‘X’ Middle School, it doesn’t have to be that way for your kids.”

I’m sad to say that, so far, it has been for my child.

My child attended the open classroom program in elementary school, a program in which independent, out-of-the-box thinking and open-minded teacher-student discussions are encouraged and where respect for children as individuals is a main part of the philosophy. Not so in middle school, as I have learned.

Instead, my experience has been that the middle school system emphasizes form as much as content and builds on rigid simple-minded rules and punishment. Missed homework assignments result, by default, in detention or recess chores.

Absence if not sick, even with a parent note, is met with Saturday classes.

Such punishments belong to an age that I thought passed about 60 years ago.

What purpose do such retaliatory measures serve? How can anyone still think that detention and humiliation can be considered successful tools for positive reinforcement and for building children with high self-esteem and a genuine desire to learn?

I want my children to attend a school where they’ll be heard, encouraged, trusted and respected.

A school, where they perform at their best because they want to and like to, where answers based on independent creative thinking are valued more than memorizing the latest chapter. We need alternatives to traditional schools, and I believe Bridges K-8 Charter School, with its whole child philosophy, is the answer.

I encourage parents to come out and support the Bridges Charter petition and give our children a chance to attend a school that preserves creativity and initiative, builds confidence and pursues academic excellence. Steffen Nielsen Newbury Park