It’s safe to say that students weren’t surprised to hear that U of T scored a C minus grade for student-faculty interaction in The Globe and Mail’s University Report. It’s unlikely that a student at this university goes through an undergraduate education without getting lost in a sea of students at Con Hall, Bahen, or Bader. It’s not easy raising your hand for minutes on end, hoping your bifocalled prof will notice you in the back, or standing in line behind a queue of classmates waiting to ask a question at the break.

With over 55,000 undergraduate students and only about 3,300 professors at this campus, interaction isn’t easy, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist at all. There are many ways students can reach teachers, and make the most out of their knowledge and teaching abilities.

The Faculty of Arts and Science requires that profs hold regular office hours. Most of the time, however, profs report that their hours are spent sitting there, twiddling their thumbs. The opportunity is there, but students aren’t taking it.

There’s no doubt that speaking up in a class of 200 is intimidating, but asking a question can clarify a lot. And most likely, if something your prof says doesn’t make sense to you, it doesn’t make sense to a lot of others. But if public speaking makes your knees quake, going up to a prof after class is an option. Often, they’re just as starved for student-faculty interaction as their students are.

U of T doesn’t spoon-feed its students. If you’re going to get anywhere around here, it’s going to be through your own volition. So ask that extra question, go to office hours, read comments on your essays, and maybe even sit down for a coffee with your favourite prof (which can happen on occasion).

Having the responsibility placed on our shoulders isn’t such a bad thing. It might just build character. U of T breeds a unique type of graduate. They’re that much more prepared to enter the harsh world put there because, really, they’ve been living in one for four or more years. When the diplomas are handed out, it seems that U of T grads are more prepared to take on their careers and personal lives with authority, entrepreneurship, and confidence.

The chances that an undergrad is going to have a Dead Poet’s Society-inspired relationship with their teacher is slim, but if students step up to the plate and make the most of what’s given to them, maybe that C minus can be bumped up.