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RIZAL’S EDUCATION

Early Education in Calamba and Biñan

Rizal had his early education in Calamba


and Biñan. It was a typical schooling that a
son of an ilustrado family received during his
time, characterized by the four R’s- reading,
writing, arithmetic, and religion. Instruction
was rigid and strict. Knowledge was forced
into the minds of the pupils by means of the
tedious memory method aided by the
teacher’s whip.
Despite the defects of the Spanish system of
elementary education, Rizal was able to
acquire the necessary instruction preparatory
for college work in Manila. It may be said
that Rizal, who was born a physical weakling,
rose to become an intellectual giant not
because of, but rather in spite of, the
outmoded and backward system of
instruction obtaining in the Philippines during
the last decades of Spanish regime.
The Hero’s First Teacher

The first teacher of Rizal was his mother, who


was a remarkable woman of good character
and fine culture. On her lap, he learned at
the age of three the alphabet and the
prayers. "My mother," wrote Rizal in his
student memoirs, "taught me how to read
and to say haltingly the humble prayers
which I raised fervently to God."
As tutor, Doña Teodora was patient,
conscientious, and understanding. It was she
who first discovered that her son had a talent
for poetry. Accordingly, she encouraged him
to write poems. To lighten the monotony of
memorizing the ABC’s and to stimulate her
son’s imagination, she related many stories.
As Jose grew older, his parents employed
private tutors to give him lessons at home.
The first was Maestro Celestino and the
second, Maestro Lucas Padua. Later, an old
man named Leon Monroy, a former
classmate of Rizal’s father, became the boy’s
tutor. This old teacher lived at the Rizal home
and instructed Jose in Spanish and Latin.
Unfortunately, he did not lived long. He died
five months later.

After a Monroy’s death, the hero’s parents


decided to send their gifted son to a private
school in Biñan.
Jose Goes to Biñan
One Sunday afternoon in June, 1869, Jose,
after kissing the hands of his parents and a
tearful parting from his sister, left Calamba for
Biñan. He was accompanied by Paciano,
who acted as his second father. The two
brothers rode in a carromata, reaching their
destination after one and one-half hours’
drive. They proceeded to their aunt’s house,
where Jose was to lodge. It was almost night
when they arrived, and the moon was about
to rise.
That same night, Jose, with his cousin named
Leandro, went sightseeing in the town.
Instead of enjoying the sights, Jose became
depressed because of homesickness. "In the
moonlight," he recounted, "I remembered my
home town, my idolized mother, and my
solicitous sisters. Ah, how sweet to me was
Calamba, my own town, in spite of the fact
that was not as wealthy as Biñan."
First Day in Biñan School
 The next morning (Monday) Paciano brought his
younger brother to the school of Maestro Justiniano
Aquino Cruz.

The school was in the house of the teacher, which was


a small nipa hut about 30 meters from the home of
Jose’s aunt.

Paciano knew the teacher quite well because he had


been a pupil under him before. He introduced Jose to
the teacher, after which he departed to return to
Calamba.
Immediately, Jose was assigned his seat in
the class. The teacher asked him:

"Do you know Spanish?"


"A little, sir," replied the Calamba lad.
"Do you know Latin?"
"A little, sir."

The boys in the class, especially Pedro, the


teacher’s son laughed at Jose’s answers.

The teacher sharply stopped all noises and


begun the lessons of the day.
Jose described his teacher in Biñan as
follows: "He was tall, thin, and long-necked,
with sharp nose and a body slightly bent
forward, and he used to wear a sinamay
shirt, woven by the skilled hands of the
women of Batangas. He knew by the heart
the grammars by Nebrija and Gainza. Add to
this severity that in my judgement was
exaggerated and you have a picture,
perhaps vague, that I have made of him, but
I remember only this."
First School BrawlIn the afternoon of his first
day in school, when the teacher was having
his siesta, Jose met the bully, Pedro. He was
angry at this bully for making fun of him
during his conversation with the teacher in
the morning.
Jose challenged Pedro to a fight. The latter
readily accepted, thinking that he could
easily beat the Calamba boy who was
smaller and younger.
The two boys wrestled furiously in the
classroom, much to the glee of their
classmates. Jose, having learned the art of
wrestling from his athletic Tio Manuel,
defeated the bigger boy. For this feat, he
became popular among his classmates.
After the class in the afternoon, a classmate
named Andres Salandanan challenged him
to an arm-wrestling match. They went to a
sidewalk of a house and wrestled with their
arms. Jose, having the weaker arm, lost and
nearly cracked his head on the sidewalk.

In succeeding days he had other fights with


the boys of Biñan. He was not quarrelsome
by nature, but he never ran away from a
fight.
Best Student in School
In academic studies, Jose beat all Biñan
boys. He surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin,
and other subjects.

Some of his older classmates were jealous of


his intellectual superiority. They wickedly
squealed to the teacher whenever Jose had
a fight outside the school, and even told lies
to discredit him before the teacher’s eyes.
Consequently the teacher had to punish
Jose.
Early Schooling in Biñan
Jose had a very vivid imagination and a very
keen sense of observation. At the age of
seven he traveled with his father for the first
time to Manila and thence to Antipolo to
fulfill the promise of a pilgrimage made by his
mother at the time of his birth. They
embarked in a casco, a very ponderous
vessel commonly used in the Philippines. It
was the first trip on the lake that Jose could
recollect.
As darkness fell he spent the hours by the
katig, admiring the grandeur of the water
and the stillness of the night, although he was
seized with a superstitious fear when he saw
a water snake entwine itself around the
bamboo beams of the katig. With what joy
did he see the sun at the daybreak as its
luminous rays shone upon the glistening
surface of the wide lake, producing a brilliant
effect! With what joy did he talk to his father,
for he had not uttered a word during the
night!
When they proceeded to Antipolo, he
experienced the sweetest emotions upon
seeing the gay banks of the Pasig and the
towns of Cainta and Taytay. In Antipolo he
prayed, kneeling before the image of the
Virgin of Peace and Good Voyage, of whom
he would later sing in elegant verses. Then he
saw Manila, the great metropolis, with its
Chinese sores and European bazaars. And
visited his elder sister, Saturnina, in Santa Ana,
who was a boarding student in the
Concordia College.
At age of 8, Rizal wrote a tagalog
poem “Sa Aking Mga Kabata” the
theme of which revolves on the love of
one’s language.
Sa Aking Mga Kabata

Kapagka ang baya’y sadyang umiibig


Sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit,
Sanlang kalayaan nasa ring masapit
Katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid.
Pagka’t ang salita’y isang kahatulan
Sa bayan, sa nayo’t mga kaharian,
At ang isang tao’y katulad, kabagay
Ng alin mang likha noong kalayaan.
Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salita
Mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda,
Kaya ang marapat pagyamaning kusa
Na tulad sa inang tunay na nagpala.
Ang wikang Tagalog tulad din sa Latin
Sa Ingles, Kastila at salitang anghel,
Sapagka’t ang Poong maalam tumingin
Ang siyang naggawa, nagbigay sa atin.
Ang salita nati’y huwad din sa iba
Na may alfabeto at sariling letra,
Na kaya nawala’y dinatnan ng sigwa
Ang lunday sa lawa noong dakong una.
When he was nine years old, his father sent
him to Biñan to continue studying Latin,
because his first teacher had died. His
brother Paciano took him to Biñan one
Sunday, and Jose bade his parents and
sisters good-bye with tears in his eyes. Oh,
how it saddened him to leave for the first
time and live far from his home and his
family! But he felt ashamed to cry and had to
conceal his tears and sentiments. "O Shame,"
he explained, "how many beautiful and
pathetic scenes the world would witness
without thee!"
They arrived at Biñan in the evening. His
brother took him to the house of his aunt
where he was to stay, and left him after
introducing him to the teacher. At night, in
company with his aunt’s grandson named
Leandro, Jose took a walk around the town
in the light of the moon. To him the town
looked extensive and rich but sad and ugly.
His teacher in Biñan was a severe
disciplinarian. His name was Justiniano
Aquino Cruz. "He was a tall man, lean and
long-necked, with a sharp nose and a body
slightly bent forward. He used to wear a
sinamay shirt woven by the deft hands of
Batangas women. He knew by memory the
grammars of Nebrija and Gainza. To this add
a severity which, in my judgement I have
made of him, which is all I remember."
The boy Jose distinguished himself in class,
and succeeded in surpassing many of his
older classmates. Some of these were so
wicked that, even without reason, they
accused him before the teacher, for which,
in spite of his progress, he received many
whippings and strokes from the ferule. Rare
was the day when he was not stretched on
the bench for a whipping or punished with
five or six blows on the open palm. Jose’s
reaction to all these punishments was one of
intense resentment in order to learn and thus
carry out his father’s will.
Jose spent his leisure hours with Justiniano’s
father-in-law, a master painter. From him he
took his first two sons, two nephews, and a
grandson. His way life was methodical and
well regulated. He heard mass at four if there
was one that early, or studied his lesson at
that hour and went to mass afterwards.
Returning home, he might look in the orchard
for a mambolo fruit to eat, then he took his
breakfast, consisting generally of a plate of
rice and two dried sardines.
 After that he would go to class, from which he was
dismissed at ten, then home again. He ate with his
aunt and then began at ten, then home again. He
ate with his aunt and then began to study. At half
past two he returned to class and left at five. He might
play for a short time with some cousins before
returning home. He studied his lessons, drew for a
while, and then prayed and if there was a moon, his
friends would invite him to play in the street in
company with other boys.

Whenever he remembered his town, he thought with


tears in his eyes of his beloved father, his idolized
mother, and his solicitous sisters. Ah, how sweet was his
town even though not so opulent as Biñan! He grew
sad and thoughtful.
While he was studying in Biñan, he returned to
his hometown now and then. How long the road
seemed to him in going and how short in
coming! When from afar he descried the roof of
his house, secret joy filled his breast. How he
looked for pretexts to remain longer at home! A
day more seemed to him a day spent in
heaven, and how he wept, though silently and
secretly, when he saw the calesa that was
flower that him Biñan! Then everything looked
sad; a flower that he touched, a stone that
attracted his attention he gathered, fearful that
he might not see it again upon his return. It was
a sad but delicate and quite pain that
possessed him.
Jose Rizal’s Formative Years
Rizal’s Formative Years in Ateneo

 Prior to Ateneo, Rizal took and passed the entrance


exam at Colegio de San Juan de Letran, but his father
Francisco opted for Ateneo. On June 10, 1872,
Paciano accompanied Jose to matriculate at the
Ateneo Municipal de Manila. Fr. Magin Ferrando, the
registrar of Ateneo at first refused to admit Jose for
two reasons: (1) he was late for registration and (2) he
appeared sickly andundersized for his age. Upon the
intercession of Manuel Xerez-Burgos, nephew of Fr,
Burgos, and Rizal was reluctantly admitted to Ateneo.
The role of the Jesuits in Philippine education
is very important. After they were expelled
from the Philippine archipelago in 1768, the
order remained dormant until its members
returned in1859. When the Jesuits re-
emerged to convert the Mindanao
population, they were also asked to take
charge of Ateneo. By 1865, Ateneo was a
secondary school that offered rigorous
courses almost equivalent to college
academics. Ateneo was considered the
finest school in the Philippines because of the
rigorous intellectual standards of the Jesuits.
Following the rigid methodical habits which
he had learned from his father and his Jesuit
teachers, Jose prepared a schedule so that
he would not lose an hour: study and reading
until four pm, exercise from four to five pm,
and social and miscellaneous obligations
from five to six pm. This careful management
of his time yielded results almost at once.
He began at the bottom of the school, but
within a month he became “Emperor of
Carthaginian.” Ateneo had divided the
students into two “empires,” Roman and
Carthaginian, to fight for academic
supremacy. It was this war that soon brought
young Rizal triumph and prizes. At the end of
the first quarter, he received the grade
“excellent.”
The schedule he followed gave him extra
time for reading. The first foreign book he
read, The Count of Monte Cristo by
Alexander Dumas, reminded him of the
sufferings of his mother in prison and of his
motherland. Conditions worse than those
which Dumas had described in his book were
present all over the Philippines during that
time.
But the book which intrigued him was Dr. Feodor
Jagor’s Travels in the Philippines. Jagor was a
German naturalist who had visited the
Philippines fifteen years before and had made
some very Wise and even prophetic comments.
His book severely criticized the Spanish regime:
“Government monopolies, insolent disregard,
and neglect were the chief reasons for the
downfall of Spain’s possessions. The same
causes threaten ruin to the Philippines. . .”
It was in this environment that Jose Rizal began
the education that would solidify his political
thoughts.
Rizal’s Early Writings on Education

While at Ateneo, Rizal won a special prize in


poetry for “A La Juventud Filipina” (“To the
Philippine Youth”) and he cultivated the
intellectual direction which led to his
nationalistic writings.
TO THE PHILIPPINE YOUTH
(A Translation from the Spanish by Nick
Joaquin)
Hold high the brow serene,
O youth, where now you stand;
Let the bright sheen
Of your grace be seen,
Fair hope of my fatherland!

Come now, thou genius grand,


And bring down inspiration;
With thy mighty hand,
Swifter than the mind’s violation,
Raise the eager mind to higher station.

Come down with pleasing light


Of art and science to the fight,

O youth, and there untie


The chains that heavy lie,
Your spirit free to blight.
See how in flaming zone
Amid the shadows thrown,
The Spaniard’ a holy hand
A crown’s resplendent band
Proffers to this Indian land.

Thou, who now wouldst rise


On wings of rich emprise,
Seeking from Olympian skies
Songs of sweetest strain,
Softer than ambrosial rain;
Thou, whose voice divine
Rivals Philomel’s refrain
And with varied line
Through the night benign
Frees mortality from pain;

Thou, who by sharp strife


Wakest thy mind to life;
And the memory bright
Of thy genius’ light
Makest immortal in its strength;

And thou, in accents clear


Of Phoebus, to Apelles dear;
Or by the brush’s magic art
Takest from nature’s store a part,
To fig it on the simple canvas’ length;
Go forth, and then the sacred fire
Of thy genius to the laurel may aspire;
To spread around the fame,
And in victory acclaim,
Through wider spheres the human name.

Day, O happy day,


Fair Filipinas, for thy land!

So bless the Power to-day


That places in thy way
This favor and this fortune grand!
While attending Ateneo, Rizal developed into
a first-rate student. He was remembered as
an original thinker, a creative scholar, and a
natural leader. The Ateneo years were a
coming— out period for Rizal. He not only
became the leader of his fellow students, but
he also took up fencing and gymnastics. The
most noticeable change in Rizal’s education
was his mastery of Spanish.
When Rizal began school, he was only
moderately successful in speaking and
writing Spanish. But Rizal worked hard and
read constantly until finally Fr. Francisco de
Paula Sanchez remarked that he was
becoming proficient in the language. At this
point Rizal began writing in Spanish. Most of
his famous works were written in that
language.
It was Fr. Sanchez who recognized Rizal’s
talent as a poet and encouraged him to
practice this craft. Rizal’s student poems
were impressionistic and amateurish, but they
contained the seeds of his future nationalism.
As a member of the Society of Muses, Rizal
enjoyed himself but increasingly found his
poems expressing a national theme. He
could see a sense of Philippine nationalism in
writing about flowers; even his early poems
suggested a critical voice that castigated
the Spanish for their foibles and follies.
Fr. Jose Villaclara, who instructed Rizal in the
sciences and philosophy, played an equally
important role in Rizal’s writing. He was a
young man who believed that Rizal was
wasting his time with poetry. He developed a
scientific curiosity in young Rizal that lasted
until his death. It was Fr. Villaclara who
convinced Rizal to take a “scientific attitude”
about life. His classes encouraged Rizal to
express his earliest national ideas. He was
determined to serve his people. That service
would define the key elements of Philippine
nationalism.
A poem that Rizal wrote during his Ateneo
years, “Por la Educacion Recibe Lustre la
Patria” (“Through Education Our Motherland
Receives Light”), suggested that education is
an integral part of the national character.
THROUGH EDUCATION OUR MOTHERLAND
RECEIVES LIGHT

The vital breath of prudent Education


Instills a virtue of enchanting power;
She lifts the motherland to highest station
And endless dazzling glories on her shower.
Arid as the zephyr’s gentle exhalation
Revives the matrix of the fragrant flower,
So education multiplies her gifts of grace;
With prudent hand imparts them to the human race.
For her a mortal-man will gladly part
With all he has; will give his calm repose;
For her are born all science and all art,
That brows of men with laurel fair enclose.
As from the towering mountain’s lofty heart
The purest current of the streamlet flows,
So education without stint or measure gives
Security and peace to lands in which she lives.
Where Education reigns on lofty seat
Youth blossoms forth with vigor and agility;
He error subjugates with solid feet,
And is exalted by conceptions of nobility.
She breaks the neck of vice and its deceit;
Black crime turns pale at Her hostility;
The barbarous nations She knows how to tame,
From savages creates heroic fame.
And as the spring doth sustenance bestow
On all the plants, on bushes in the mead,
Its placid plenty goes to overflow
And endlessly with lavish love to feed
The banks by which it wanders, gliding slow,
Supplying beauteous nature’s every need;
So he who prudent Education doth procure
The towering heights of honor will secure.
From out his lips the water, crystal pure,
Of perfect virtue shall not cease to go.
With careful doctrines of his faith made sure,
The powers of evil he will overthrow,
Like foaming waves that never long endure,
But perish on the shore at every blow;
And from his good example other men shall learn
Their upward steps toward the heavenly paths to
turn.
Within the breast of wretched humankind
She lights the living flame of goodness bright;
The hands of fiercest criminal doth bind;
And in those breasts will surely pour delight
Which seek her mystic benefits to find,
Those souls She sets aflame with love of right.
It is a noble fully-rounded Education
That gives to life its surest consolation.
And as the mighty rock aloft may tower
Above the center of the stormy deep
In scorn of storm, or fierce Sou’wester’s power,
Or fury of the waves that raging seep,
Until, their first mad hatred spent, they cower,
And, tired at last, subside and fall asleep, --
So he that takes wise Education by the hand,
Invincible shall guide the reigns of motherland.
On sapphires shall his service be engraved,
A thousand honors to him by his land be granted:
For in their bosoms will his noble sons have saved
Luxuriant flowers his virtue had transplanted:
And by the love of goodness ever lived,
The lords and governors will see implanted
To endless days, the Christian Education,
Within their noble, faith—enrapture nation.
And as in early morning we behold
The ruby sun pour forth resplendent rays;
And lovely dawn her scarlet and her gold,
Her brilliant colors all about her sprays;
So skillful noble Teaching doth unfold
To living minds the joy of virtuous ways.
She offers our dear motherland the light
That leads us to immortal glory’s height.
Again, while in Ateneo, in 1876 he composed
a poem entitled “Alianza intima la religion y
la educacion” (“The Intimate Alliance
between Religion and Education”) in which
Rizal expressed the importance of religion in
education and to him; education without
God is not true education.
THE INTIMATE ALLIANCE BETWEEN RELIGION
AND EDUCATION
As the climbing ivy over lofty elm
Creeps tortuously, together the adornment
Of the verdant plain, embellishing
Each other and together growing,
But should the kindly elm refuse its aid
The toy would impotent and friendless wither;
So is Education to Religion,
By spiritual alliance bound.
Through Religion, Education gains renown, and
Woe to the impious mind that blindly spurning
The sapient teachings of Religion, this
Unpolluted fountainhead forsakes.
As the sprout, growing from the pompous vine
Proudly offers us its honeyed clusters
While the generous and fresh’ning waters
Of celestial virtue give new life
To Education true, shedding
Oh it warmth and light; because of them
The vine smells sweet and gives delicious fruit.

Without Religion, Human Education


Is like unto a vessel struck by winds
Which, sore beset, is of its helm deprived
By the roaring blows and buffets of the dread
Tempestuous Boreas, who fiercely wields
His power until he proudly sends her down
Into the deep abysses of the angered sea.
As heaven’s dew the meadow feeds and
strengthens
So that blooming flowers all the earth
Embroider in the days of spring; so also
If Religion holy nourishes
Education with its doctrines, she
Shall walk in joy and generosity
Toward the Good, and everywhere bestrew
The fragrant and luxuriant fruits of Virtue.
The Jesuits did not envision Rizal as an
intellectual radical. With his good manners,
understated way of speaking and writing,
and his well-dressed, often deferential
character, he appeared like most other
students. In fact, when Fr. Sanchez read his
poems, he failed to see the beginnings of an
enthusiastic leader.
An examination of Rizal’s student memoirs, as
well as his diaries, suggested that his Ateneo
years were formative ones. He not only
developed scientific skills but a critical sense
of writing in the Spanish language as well.
Eventually Rizal would excel as a scientist, a
fiction writer, a nationalist, and a medical
doctor. All these would have been
impossible without his early education.
Rizal’s Early Religious Writings

Rizal’s devotion to the Mother and Son was


further manifested when he wrote (luring his
Ateneo day’s two separate religious poems.
One was titled “A la Virgen Maria” (“To the
Virgin Mary”), and the other was “Al Nino Jesus”
(“To the Child Jesus”). One night as Rizal was
visiting his parents in Calamba, he stepped out
into the dark street as a man was passing. He
failed to see that the passerby was one of the
civil guards, and so he did not salute.
Suddenly a sword struck him across the back.
When he recovered from the sword wound,
which fortunately was not serious, he
complained to the authorities. He was informed
that the civil guard had done his duty, and that,
instead of complaining, the victim ought to be
thankful that he was alive. It could have been
while he was convalescing that he wrote his
lonely sonnet to the Virgin Mary, the first sad
poem he had written
TO THE VIRGIN MARY

Dear Mary, giving comfort and sweet peace


To all afflicted mortals; thou the spring
Whence flows a current of relief, to bring
Our soil fertility that does not cease;
Upon thy throne, where thou dost reign on high
Oh, list with pity as I woeful grieve
And spread thy radiant mantle to receive
My voice which rises swiftly to the sky.
Placid Mary, thou my mother dear,
My sustenance, my fortitude must be
And in this fearsome sea my way must steer
If deprivation comes to buffet me,
And if grim death in agony draws near,
Oh, succor me. From anguish set me free.
This poem addressed to the Virgin Mary appears
to be a sonnet. Its last three lines remind one of
the hymn “Mother of Christ” in the Baclaran
church novena.
The other poem, an ode to Jesus which was
written in 1875, was short and consisted of eight
verses only. Based on Spanish poetry standard,
which must have influenced Rizal, it could be
classified as octava real.
TO THE CHILD JESUS

How, God-child, hast Thou come


To earth in cave forlorn?
Does fortune now deride Thee
When Thou art scarcely born?

Ah, woe! Celestial king


Who mortal form dost keep
Woulds’t rather than be Sovereign,
Be shepherd of Thy Sheep?
Rizal’s Other Early Writings

Rizal wrote the poem “In Memory of My Village”


as he recalled the joyous days of his childhood
in Calamba.
IN MEMORY OF MY VILLAGE

When early Childhood's happy days


In memory I see once more
Along the lovely verdant shore
That meets a gently murmuring sea;

When I recall the whisper soft


Of zephyrs dancing on my brow
With cooling sweetness, even now
New luscious life is born in me.
When I behold the lily white
That sways to do the wind’s command,
While gently sleeping on the sand
The stormy water rests awhile;
When from the flowers there softly breathes
A bouquet ravishingly sweet,
Out—poured the newborn dawn to meet,
As on us she begins to smile.
With sadness I recall.... recall
Thy face, in precious infancy,
Oh mother, friend most dear to me,
Who gave to life a wondrous charm.
I yet recall a village plain,
My joy, my family, my boon,
Beside the freshly cool lagoon, --
The spot for which my heart beats warm.
Ah, yes! My footsteps insecure
In your dark forests deeply sank;
And there by every river's bank
I found refreshment and delight;
Within that rustic temple prayed
With Childhood’s simple faith unfeigned
While cooling breezes, pure unstained,
Would send my heart on rapturous flight.
I saw the Maker in the grandeur
Of your ancient hoary wood,
Ah, never in your refuge could
A mortal by regret be smitten;
And while upon your sky of blue
I gazed, no love nor tenderness
Could fail, for here on nature’s dress
My happiness itself was written.
Ah, tender childhood, lovely town,
Rich fount of my felicities,
Of those harmonious melodies
Which put to flight all dismal hours,
Come back to my heart once more!

Come back gentle hours, I yearn!


Come back as the birds return,
At the budding of the flowers!
Alas, farewell! Eternal vigil I keep
For Thy peace, Thy bliss, and tranquility,
O Genius of good, so kind!
Give me these gifts, with charity.

To Thee are my fervent vows, --


To Thee I cease not to sigh
These to learn, and I call to the sky
To have thy sincerity.
Rizal also wrote “A Farewell Dialogue of the
Students” just before he graduated from
Ateneo. On March 23, 1877, not yet sixteen
years old, he received the degree of Bachelor
of Arts with highest honors. Five years later he
composed a tribute for the very reverend Fr.
Pablo Ramon, rector of Ateneo, on the
occasion of his birthday.
Rizal’s Scholastic Records

Jose Rizal’s four years in Ateneo were a


continuous pageant of brilliant scholastic
triumphs, which made him the pride of the
Jesuits. According to historian Gregorio
Zaide, Rizal obtained the following
scholastic ratings:
Nonetheless Ambeth Ocampo, Filipino revisionist
historian, suggests: “We must never assume that
Rizal graduated valedictorian or at the top of his
class.” Rizal stood out as a student leader and a
national spokesperson, because he had the
ability to talk to the average Filipino.
THE ENGLIGHTENED TOMASIAN
The Challenging Years at UST

“My mother said that I knew enough already,


and that I should not go back to Manila. Did my
mother perhaps have a foreboding of what was
to happen to me? Does a mother’s heart really
have a second sight?”
The Courses

After Ateneo Rizal enrolled at the


University of Santo Tomas (UST), a
Dominican school founded in 1611 which
was the only university in the Philippines
during that period. It was at UST that Rizal
continued to create his vision of Philippine
nationalism.
He thought that his mother’s foreboding
concerned nothing more than an unfortunate
infatuation, which was serious said and painful
enough for him at the time. But his mother’s
“second sight” was clearer and more
penetrating than he could imagined. What she
foresaw when her Jose was still a schoolboy with
no idea of the fatal mission he was to undertake
for his people was nothing less that they would
cut off his head.
 I still remember and will never forget that when I was
sixteen my mother told my father: “Don’t send him
to Manila any longer. He knows enough; if he gets
to know more, they will cut off his head.” My father
did not reply, but my brother took me to Manila
despite my mother’s tears.
 In April 1877 Rizal, then nearly sixteen, matriculated
in UST as a philosophy and medical student. The
following year Rizal matriculated at the faculty of
medicine. He was led to that profession because of
his desire to cure the cataracts that cause his
mother’s blindness. But at the same time his nature
craved for art and natural sciences, so he
continued to carry some object in Ateneo.
 Rizal also finished a course in surveying at Ateneo
during his first year in UST. Some historians claim that
Rizal took the licensure examination and successfully
passed it. However he was not granted the license
or title “surveyor” because he was only seventeen
(underage) at that time. It was on November 25
1881, when the title was issued. He was already
twenty then.
 The Dominican school was an important change for
young Rizal. It was here that he improved on the
academic lessons he learned in Ateneo and placed
them at a broader historical perspective. In fact,
Rizal’s thinking quickly became so sophisticated that
his mother warned him for intellectual arrogance.
Laurel in Literature
 In 1879, he submitted a poem for the poetry contest
which had been organized for Filipinos by the Manila
Lyceum of Art and Literature; and through he was but
eighteen years of age (1879), he won the first prize, a
silver pen, for the poem “A la Juventud Filipina” (“To the
Filipino Youth”). This poem, one of his most famous, was
dedicated to the Filipino Youth.
 It happened that a society called El Juventud Escolar
(The Youthful Scholar) had been suppressed in 1872
when Fr. Burgos was garroted. The Spanish Governor
General who handed young Jose the prize had never
heard of El Juventud Escolar, but the Filipinos got much
delight that Rizal’s poem had been dedicated to that
suppressed organization.
 The Lyceum held another literary contest for Filipinos,
mestizos, and Spaniards. The competitors entered with
assumed names. The first prize was awarded to a
beautiful allegory called “The Council of the Gods.” It
was written by Rizal. But when the Spanish judges
learned that its author was a Filipino, they reversed the
decision. A Spaniard received the prize instead. It was
an experience which cut way deep into Jose’s soul.
 Rizal also wrote a drama called “Beside the Pasig.” On
December 8, 1880 some of the students of Ateneo
presented it as a play. One of the characters was the
devil who denounced Spain for her policies. The
Philippines – so the devil declared – “Now without
comfort, sadly groans in the power of a foreign people,
and slowly dies in the impious clutch of Spain.”
Passing Marks
 At UST Rizal received passing marks but found that
the heavy emphasis on science was not to his liking.
He remained a poet at heart and his educational
goal was toward the liberal arts. Quietly on his own,
his continued to work on his political ideas.
 Despite his reluctance towards science, Rizal
selected medicine as his major subject. During his
second year, he decided to become a doctor. He
made this choice to defuse and minimize his
growing political interests. He found medicine
tedious but reasoned out that it would provide a
good living and a level of prestige.
Rizal’s interest in literature, science, and
philosophy grew even more while he was in UST.
His mind opened to new ideas. With
characteristic humility, Rizal suggested that UST
helped him develop patriotic sentiment.
Rizal, the brilliant Atenean, did not shine at UST.
He failed to obtain high academic records.
Although his grades during his first year at the
faculty of philosophy were all excellent, his
academic records in the four years of medicine
were not all impressive as shown below:

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