DR.

JOSE RIZALS EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES

JOSE RIZALS 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, Doa 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 ABCs and to stimulate her sons imagination, she
related many stories.
Private Tutors of Rizal
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 Rizals father, became the
boys 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 Monroys death, the heros parents decided to send their gifted son to a
private school in Bian.

Rizal goes to Binan,Laguna

One Sunday afternoon in June , 1869, Jose, after kissing the hands of his parents
and a tearful parting from his sister, left Calamba for Bian. 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 aunts 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 Bian."

First Day in Bian 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 Joses 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 teachers son laughed at Joses
answers.
The teacher sharply stopped all noises and begun the lessons of the day.
Jose described his teacher in Bian as follows: "He was tall, thin, longnecked, 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 Bian. He was not
quarrelsome by nature, but he never ran away from a fight.
Best Student in School
In academic studies, Jose beat all Bian 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 teachers eyes.
Consequently the teacher had to punish Jose.
Early Schooling in Bian
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.

When he was nine years old, his father sent him to Bian to continue
studying Latin, because his first teacher had died. His brother Paciano
took him to Bian 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 Bian 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 aunts 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 Bian 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. Joses reaction to all
these punishments was one of intense resentment in order to learn and
thus carry out his fathers will.
Jose spent his leisure hours with Justinianos 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 Bian! He grew sad
and thoughtful.
While he was studying in Bian, 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 Bian!
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.

Life and Studies in Ateneo

The Jesuits were considered the best educators of Spain, and perhaps of Europe, and so, when
they were permitted to return to the Philippines, although their power to administer parishes was
restricted except in the remote regions of Mindanao, the privilege of founding colleges, they had
to apply to the City of Manila for subsidies. That is why the college which began to function in
the year 1865, was called the Ateneo Municipal.
To enter the Ateneo a candidate was subjected to an entrance examination on Christian doctrine,
reading, writing, grammar, and elementary arithmetic. Jose did not take his entrance
examinations Jose did not remain in Manila but returned first to his town to celebrate the fiesta
of its patron saint; it was then that his father changed his mind and decided to send him to the
Ateneo instead.
Since Mercado, the first surname of the family, had come under suspicion of the authorities
because it was the name used by Paciano when he was studying and working with Father Burgos,
in whose house he lived, Jose adopted the second surname, Rizal.
Paciano who accompanied Jose, found him a house in Walled City, but Intramuros looked
gloomy to Jose, and he later found lodging outside, in the house of a spinster situated on Calle
Carballo, district of Santa Cruz. As if chance would furnish him data for his future campaigns, he
became acquainted in that house with various mestizos, begotten by friars.
The Jesuitical system of instruction was considered more advanced than that of other colleges in
that epoch. Its discipline was rigid and its methods less mechanical. It introduced physical

culture as part of its program as well as the cultivation of the arts, such as music, drawing, and
painting. It also establishes vocational courses in agriculture, commerce, and mechanics as a
religious institute, its principal purpose was to mold the character and the will of the boys to
comply more easily with the percepts of the Church. The students heard mass before the
beginning of the class, which was opened and closed with prayers.
In the first two terms the classes were divided into groups of interns and externs: the first
constituted the Roman Empire and the second, the Carthaginian Empire. In each empire there
were five dignitaries: Emperor, Tribune, Decurion, Centurion, and Standard-Bearer. These
dignities were won by means of individual competitions in which it was necessary to catch ones
adversary in error three times. The empires considered themselves in perpetual warfare, and
when an individual of one empire was caught in error by one belonging to the enemy empire, a
point was counted in favor of the latter. At the end of each week or two, the points in favor of
each were added and the empire, which obtained more point, was declared winner.
There was a fraternity of Mary and Saint Louis Gonzaga, to which only those who distinguished
themselves in the class for their piety and diligence could belong. This fraternity met on Sundays
and after mass held public programs in which poems were recited or debates were held. With all
these inducements it was only natural that should be a spirit of emulation, a striving to surpass
ones colleagues found in the Ateneo.
The first professor Jose had was Fr. Jose Bech, whom he describes as a man of high stature; lean
body, bent forward; quick gait; ascetic physiognomy, severe and inspired; small, sunken eyes;
sharp Grecian nose; thin lips forming an arch with its sides directed toward the chin." He was
somewhat of a lunatic and of an uneven humor; sometimes he was hard and little tolerant and at
other times he was gay and playful as a child. Among Joses classmates were Peninsulares and
sons of Peninsulares; Francisco G. Oliva, very talented but not very studious; Joaquin Garrido,
endowed with a poor memory but with much talent and industry; and Gonzalo Marzano, who
occupied the throne of Emperor.
From the first days Jose learned to systematize his work; he fixed a program of what he had to do
in the twenty-four hours of the day and did not in the least deviate from it. Thus he disciplined
his will and subjected it to the commands of his reason.
As a newcomer, Jose was at first put at the tail of the class, but he was soon promoted and kept
on being promoted so that at the end of one month he had attained to the rank of Emperor. At the
end of the term he obtained marks of excellent in all the subjects and in the examinations. He had
reason to feel proud of his advancement; and so when he went home on vacation that year, he ran
alone to see his mother in the prison and tell her the happy news.
He must have uttered this exclamation on learning from his mother that they had played her a
mean trick. The judge, who was a blind partisan of the friars having been a domestic of theirs,
told her that if she confessed her culpability he would release her at once. With the desire to see
her children again, she pleaded guilty; but the judge, instead of releasing her, convicted her. In a
few months the judge asked her forgiveness for what he had done because according to him his
conscience hurt him, but the case had no remedy because it was already on appeal.

The second year, Jose had the same professor as in the previous year; but instead of lodging
outside the City, he resided at No. 6 Calle Magallanes. At the end of the term he obtained a
medal, and upon returning to his town, he again visited his mother in jail alone. This was three
months before her release.
The rejoicing that her release produced in his spirit had much influence on the result of his
studies in the third year, for he began to win prizes in the quarterly examinations.
About that time he devoted himself to reading novels, and one of those he enjoyed most was
Dumas (father) The Count of Monte Cristo. The sufferings of the hero of the twelve years. He
also asked his father to buy him a copy of The Universal History by Cesar Cantanu, and
according to himself he profited much from its perusal.
The family, who saw in Jose great aptitude for study, decided to place him as intern or boarding
student in the college the following year. In the corner of the dormitory facing the sea and the
pier Jose passed his two years of internship.
In the fourth year of his course he had Fr. Francisco Sanchez as professor. Jose describes him as
a model of rectitude, a solicitude, and love for the student, and his studied mathematics, rhetoric,
and Greek, and he must have progressed much, for at the end of the year he-obtained five
medals, which pleased him immensely because with them I could repay my father somewhat for
his sacrifices.
His aptitude for poetry revealed itself early, and from that time on he did not cease to cultivate it.
An incident which demonstrates Joses independence of character took place at this time. Fr.
Leoncio Lopez, parish priest of the town, who was a great friend of his father, also liked Jose as
a little friend. He was cultured but at the same time timid and tender. One day Joses mother
showed Father Lopez a poem of his young friend and that the latter must have copied it from a
book. Jose, who heard this, answered the priest violently, for which his mother reprehended him.
Afterward Father Lopez came to know from the Jesuits themselves that Jose was a pupil who
excelled in poetry; and, in spite of his age, made a trip to Manila expressly to apologize to Jose.
That gesture of Father Lopez won him Joses esteem and they became good friends again,
lending each other the books they had.
In the fifth years Jose had other professors: Frs. Vilaclara and Mineves. He studied philosophy,
physics, chemistry, and natural history, but his devotion to poetry was such that his professor in
philosophy advised him once to leave it, which made him cry. But in his rest hours he continued
cultivating the Muses under the direction of his old professor, Father Sanchez. Jose had then
written a short story (leyenda), which was only slightly corrected by his professor, and a
dialogue, which was enacted at the end of the course, alluding to the collegians farewell.
However, philosophy, just and serve, inquiring into the wherefores of things, interested him as
much as poetry; physics, drawing back the veil that divine drama of nature was enacted, natural
history seemed to him somewhat uninteresting although he much liked the shells and sometimes
imagined seeing a goddess in each shell he was on the shelf.

Jose was considered small of stature and he tried to correct this defect by applying himself
regularly to gymnastics in the college. He also engaged in other physical exercises, such as
fencing. After his baccalaureate, he surprised his family with his skill in handling the sword
when he gave an exhibition bout with the best swordsman of the town.
He also devoted time to painting and sculpture. In drawing and painting he was under the
guidance and direction of the Ateneo professor, the Peninsula Don Augustin Saez, who honored
him with his affection and consideration because of his progress. In sculpture his instructor was a
Filipino, Romualdo de Jesus, who felt proud in the last years of his life of having had such an
excellent pupil.

Rizals first teachers:

1.Dona Teodora
- was his mother she was patient, conscientious and , understanding
- she discovered that her son had a talent for poetry
- she encouraged him to write poems
2. Private Tutors of Rizal
- Maestro Celestino
- Maestro Lucas
- Leon Monroy
Rizal goes to Binan,Laguna:
- June, 1869 Rizal left for Binan
- Was accompanied by Paciano his older brother
- He was taught by Maestro Justiniano
- In academic studies, Rizal beat all Binan boys
- He surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin, and other subjects
Life and Studies in Ateneo
- Ateneo De Municipal established by the Jesuits

- Rizal entered in 1872

- He belonged to the class composed of Spaniards, mestizos and Filipinos
- His teacher was Fr. Jose Bech
- He was considered as an inferior and was placed at the buttom of the class
- By the end of the month he became the emperor and received a prize, a religious
picture
- To improve his Spanish Rizal took private lessons in Santa Isabel College
- During his 4th year in Ateneo he received 5 medals and graduated as
sobresaliente
- He graduated on March 23, 1877(16 years old)
- Received the degree of bachelor of arts, with highest honors not a valedictiorian
Extra Curricular Involvement
- an emperor inside the classroom
- campus leader
- active member and became a secretary, the Marian Congregation Religious
Society
- member of the Academy of Spanish Literature and the Academy of Natural
Sciences
- poet
- studied painting under the famous Spanish Painter, Agustin Saez
- improved his sculpture talents under the supervision of Romualdo de Jesus
- engaged in gymnastics and fencing and continued the physical training under his
sports-minded Tio Manuel.
Medical Studies in University of Sto. Thomas (1877-1882)
- After graduating , he continued his education at UST
- He finished a year in Philosophy and Letters
- He decided to shift to a medical course
- UST was under the Dominicans , rival of the Jesuits in education
- Remained loyal to Ateneo participated in extracurricular activities in Ateneo and
completed a course in surveying
- As a Thomasian he won more literary laurels
- During his first term in 1877-1878 in UST, he studied Cosmology, Metaphysics ,
Theodicy and History of Philosophy.
- It was during the school term 1878-1879 that Rizal pursued his studies in medicine
Reasons why Rizal wanted to study Medicine:
- He wanted to be a physician so that he could cure his mothers failing eyesight
- Fr. Pablo Ramon, the Father Rector of Ateneo whom he consulted for a choice of
career, finally answered his letter , and recommended medicine

Pre- Med Course

- Curso de Ampiacion or Advanced course in Physics, Chemistry and Natural History.
- Out of the 28 young men taking Ampliacion only four including Rizal were granted
the privilege of taking simultaneously the preparatory course and the first year of
medicine
- Rizal also received his four year practical training in medicine at the Hospital de
San Juan de Dios in Intramuros
- During his last year at the University, Rizal had obtained the global grade of
Notable(Very Good) in all of his subjects, and he was the second best student in a
decimated class of seven who passed the medicine course. After which, Rizal
decided to study in Spain.
Academic Journey To Spain ( 1882-1885 )