Features

It’s 9:30 a.m. and the mall has just opened. Despite the early hour, there is already a steady stream of customers pouring in through the entrance, wallets ready.

Overhead are wreaths of green plastic pinned to the ceiling, lit by tiny white lights. The faint melodies of holiday songs can be heard playing from stores on either side of the building. It is Christmas season at the Rideau Centre.

First-year journalism student Dalton Derkson said he hates Facebook.

“It just seems really, well, conceited to think that other people care about your Twitpics and Tweets and whatever it’s called,” Derkson said.

That being said, Derkson doesn’t stray away from all social networking.

His one weakness seems to be Facebook, but Derkson said he refuses to enjoy the experience.

Against the backdrop of the “Ask Me” campaign, I always tell my students to ask me anything.

On Mondays, I stand at the front of a classroom.

I explain the week’s readings, and the lessons to draw from them.  

The rest is up to them.  

However often I welcome questions, it is always the same students who actually pose them.  

When I offer to edit their upcoming assignments ahead of time, no one comes forward.

B-.

That letter followed by a tiny hyphen scribbled on the front page of your essay is not a welcome sight after you just spent 10 straight hours sitting sleep-deprived on the fourth floor of the library, buried behind piles of musty, puke-coloured hardcovers.

You’re angry, you’re frustrated, but mostly you feel cheated out of a grade you thought you deserved.

Your professor doesn’t sympathize.

But should they?

The key to being a successful student is a lot more straightforward than one might think, according to Carol Miles.