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:
David M. Schneider, Richard Handler-Schneider On Schneider - The Conversion of The Jews and Other Anthropological Stories-Duke University Press (1995) PDF