The directions in my life regarding education come from two quotes; one by Christopher Morley, “There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way,” and one by Epictetus, “Only the educated are free.” The former implies happiness and fulfillment through independence and the latter implies the method of achieving the former. It is through the implications of these two quotes that my internal metrics evaluate my education thus far. I believe that sound evaluation also requires a comprehensive perspective, as George Santayana noted, necessary for understanding; “A series of excited, fleeting, varied pleasures is not happiness; happiness lies in reflection and imaginative judgment, when the image of one's life, or of human life, as it truly was or is, satisfies the will and is accepted with joy. In this case this requires a review of educational experiences, further definition of my personal parameters and several external measures. Internal Measures It is very likely that my experiences as a young student served to lead me to appreciate the words of Morley and Epictetus. I loved every aspect of elementary school that involved the academic side of public school education. I have been fortunate to have several teachers who have been wonderful role models and perspectives. I have had the pleasure of discovering my strengths and overcoming challenges. I can count on one hand the number of days when the negative experiences outweighed the positive ones, despite being an extremely shy and awkward child with few friends. Being a victim of sexual abuse, the mental strain was a welcome distraction that kept my mind from going to dark places, the hours spent at school were a refuge from us extremely... middle of paper... The external measurements of My educational experiences have produced evidence of a model regarding education. Bel Kaufman expressed this model best by stating; “Education is not a product: grade, diploma, job, money – in that order; it is a process, without end." Internally I identify this process by retracing my life experiences. Externally, this process is identifiable through Hall and Kevles' aims of higher education; knowledge, personal growth and intellectual ability as they feed each other in a cycle. Every piece of knowledge I gain, if internalized, can stimulate personal growth and help increase curiosity and intellectual capacity, which in turn requires more knowledge. During my time at Metropolitan State University I have built a solid foundation for the future, and in doing so, I have evolved and am now able to continue to do so.