Ron Robert remembers it well. His career as a journalist was plagued by a feeling of inadequacy, something that nagged and intensified as he worked his way from a local radio-television station in Saskatoon, all the way to the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada.
School wasn't a big thing; the big thing was earning money for the family. I wasn't aiming for any kind of education. I was just aiming to survive and go through life.
Certainly, he never expected it.
But there he was.
A high school drop-out from a poor Métis family, Robert was briefing Pierre Elliott Trudeau on the political landscape of Canada's Prairie provinces. Head of the Western Desk, surrounded by politicians and diplomats, Robert was insecure, keenly aware of his scholarly void.
He felt out of place.
And the feeling festered.
More than five decades later, following a diagnosis of Alzheimer's, Robert has taken it upon himself to fill that void. Today, the 81-year-old is a second-year student at King's University College, studying Political Science and Disability Studies. His coursework, the conversations with professors and fellow students are more than an effort to keep a self-effacing ailment at bay.
In the classroom, Robert has rediscovered memories of a storied life.
