The new year is always the time for new beginnings — the calendar resets, resolutions kick in and school, untimely and unwelcome as it may be, is back in session.

But so much of this rests on looking forward at what’s to come, when there’s so much that’s already happened we can’t afford to forget.

January is named after the two-faced Roman god of beginnings and endings, Janus. So while it’s always great to resolve to lose weight, work more for class, get to the gym and really, REALLY listen to your significant other, you ignore the past at your peril.

There’s the obvious place where looking back and recalling the past may have helped: the economy. Pick up the paper and read about the U.S. government’s $1.2 trillion debt, the growing list of people swindled by Bernard Madoff and the fact even Apple (yes, iPod/iPhone Apple) is now lowering prices on iTunes music AND removing the anti-copying digital rights management software and you can tell the economy is hurting.

And economists will say this disaster could probably have been averted or at least lessened, assuming we took a step back from all the “money” we were making and thought about how ridiculous the ideas behind the finance system were. Some may argue that we should never have gotten rid of the Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited banks from taking too much risk when investing depositors’ money.

The problem is a lot more simple than regulatory efforts, mortgage-backed securities, toxic debt and a bursting housing bubble. That problem is greed — people acted as if things would always get better and treated complex investment devices they came up with like a straight flush, when they were actually holding just a pair of fives.

So if your resolution is to make better investments, learn from the past: money don’t grow on trees, kids!

But not everyone has such grand designs on life and plans to retire at 40 with millions in the bank. For so many of us, our resolutions are simple: lose a few pounds, go to the gym more, study harder, get straight As, etc.

I really can’t address the first two, as I’ve never made those resolutions — however, I can address the other two.

I have no illusions about effective study habits or efficient note-taking skills — different strokes for different folks and all.

But what I can say is that actually talking to your professors and getting some help with the course is a grossly underused resource. In the past three days, I’ve had two professors tell me that students don’t get in touch with them regarding grades or course materials.

And I thought I was the only one who decided the professor was too busy or my question too trivial for me to stop by the office.

So that’s one of my top resolutions — I’m going to work to improve my grades and decrease the amount of time I stress over course material by cutting away the nonsense and taking my questions about my classes to the authority — the person who is teaching the class.

And to be honest, this really isn’t a huge resolution for 2009 — I’m paying tuition to learn the material from my classes, which, judging by the amount of time spent on reading, researching, homeworking and working on projects and papers, certainly isn’t limited to the stuff I learn in the lecture hall.

So if the professor’s going to make me work for the grade, I think I’m going to make the professor work on giving me the material for that grade. And you should too.

E-mail Paul your thoughts on resolutions and office hours to [email protected].