Rizal’s Formal Education

Prof. Diony Badilles

 Preparation for Formal Schooling
• His mother as his first teacher
• Maestro Celestino as his first tutor
• Maestro Lucas Padua
• Maestro Leon Monroy, a former classmate of
his mother
– Skill in reading, writing, and the rudiments of Latin
 Rizal Moves to Binan
• Paciano accompanied Rizal to Binan on board a
carromata
• Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz
• Latin and Spanish
• Pedro
• He detested from his teacher was the use of
corporal punishment in making the pupils learn the
lesson for the day.
• To Ibarra, the school has to be a playground of the
mind and not a torture chamber
• A very systematic and disciplined life
– 4:00am, he was already in his toes to attend mass
– After the mass, go home and study his lessons
– Breakfast and attend his morning class until 10:00am
– Home for lunch
– After resting for an hour, he had to return to school for
his afternoon classes from 2:00 to 5:00pm
– 6:00pm, he had to pray with his cousins and then study
for a while
– After suppertime, when there was a moon, he played
with his nieces in the street.
 Ateneo Education
• He took entrance examination at the Colegio de
San Juan de Letran on June 10, 1872
• He sought admission at the Ateneo Municipal but
was not admitted for three reasons:
– Late enrollee
– Frail and undersized
– Sickly
• Manuel Burgos helped him
• Jose Rizal was his registered name
• Bachiller en Artes, a six-year educational program
– Christian Doctrine
– Languages (Spanish, Latin, Greek, and French)
– History and Geography
– Mathematics and Sciences
– Classic disciplines (poetry, rhetoric, and Philosophy
– Vocational courses (agriculture, commerce, mechanics,
and surveying)
• Methods of Instruction
– Ratio studiorum, a system of indoctrination under
tight and constant discipline, with every incentive
of compensation and reward (Guerrero, 1998)
– Combined memory and understanding
• Atenean education
– Ad majorem Dei glorium (For the glory of God
(Guerrero, 1998))
 Academic Performance at Ateneo
• 1872-1873 (First Year)
– Latin -------------- Excellent
– Spanish ---------- Excellent
– Greek ------------ Excellent
• 1873-1874 (Second Year)
– Spanish -------------------- Excellent
– Greek ---------------------- Excellent
– World Geography ------- Excellent
• 1874-1875 (Third Year)
– Latin ------------------------ Excellent
– Spanish -------------------- Excellent
– World History ------------ Excellent
– History of Spain
and Philippines --------- Excellent
– Arithmetic and Algebra - Excellent
– Greek ---------------------- Excellent
• 1875-176 (Fourth Year)
– Rhetoric and Poetry --------------- Excellent
– French --------------------------------- Excellent
– Geometry and Trigo --------------- Excellent
• 1876-1877 (Fifth Year)
– Philosophy 1 ------------------------ Excellent
– Philosophy 2 ------------------------ Excellent
– Mineralogy -------------------------- Excellent
– Physics ------------------------------- Excellent
– Botany and Zoology -------------- Excellent
Rizal’s academic triumph at Ateneo can be attributed to three
factors
1. racial pride
2. monastic discipline
3. seclusion of boarding school life
 Extra-curricular Activities at Ateneo

• Highest Degree of Scholarship and Leadership

– Religious Confraternities (Officer)
– Sodality of Our Lady
– Apostleship of Prayer
• Elite Organizations
– Academy of Spanish Literature
– Academy of Natural Sciences
 Literary Works at Ateneo
• Mi Primera Insperacion (My First Inspiration)
• Un Recuerdo de Mi Pueblo ( In Memory of My
Town)
• Al Nino Jesus (To the Child Jesus)
• Through Education the Country Receives Light
• La Alianza Intima Sobre Religion y La Buena
Educaccion (The Intimate Alliance Between
Religion and Good Education)