As another successful year for all those involved in the journalistic enterprise comes to a conclusion, you all deserve the highest praise for your important accomplishments in bringing us the news, sports, entertainment, information and opinions. You serve a very necessary function and a difficult one to keep the citizens informed, which is the only way democracy can survive and be invigorated.
We are very privileged to go to a university and to be the inheritors of a tradition that goes back to Plato, who strived to create a perfect world in recognition of his teacher Socrates who asked every important question ever asked, and to Aristotle who sought to see if his teacher Plato was correct and so commenced the tradition of investigation to see if truth can be discovered. It is incumbent on all us to better this world, to strive and not to yield, to heal the sick, bring peace instead of war and knowledge instead of ignorance.
With great respect and admiration to you all,
David S. Rovins
Independent
I missed the bus… and the dog ate my homework
I was chagrined, to say the least, when I read about students blaming the STM for being late or missing school deadlines. Montreal’s bus service isn’t 100% perfect, but it is extremely reliable. Nevertheless, on exam days, I give myself lots of leeway: usually a minimum of half an hour, if not more. With the exception of the maintenance worker strikes last year, a bus more than half an hour late is as rare as being struck by lightning.
I’ve never worked anywhere that considered blaming public transit as anything but an unprofessional excuse. If a late bus or metro can make the difference to your deadline or start time, then you have a time management problem. That’s adulthood, better to learn it in university than by getting fired from a few jobs.
My point is that of all the things that students feel are stacked against them, from discriminatory landlords to unfeeling governments to unscrupulous advertisers, the STM really is much more of a boon than a threat to student life.
Owen
JMSB
