INFORMAL TO FORMAL EDUCATION

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 in Latin, Spanish and Tagalog. "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.
By the age of six, Rizal become adept at drawing, clay modelling, and carving
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 live long. He died five months later.

Early Formal Education in Binan (June 1869- December 17 1871)

Paciano brought his younger brother to the school of Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz.
He 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. 
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. 

Studies in Ateneo 

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.

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 one’s
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 points, was declared winner.
 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.
  
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 Jose’s 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.

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.
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.

In the fifth year 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
 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.

University life at UST (1877-1882)

Jose Rizal, having completed his Bachiller en Artes at the Ateneo Municipal, was now
eligible for higher education at a university. His mother, Doña Teodora, had second thoughts
about sending her son to school because of the previous incident involving the execution of
friars Gomez, Burgos and Zamora. However, it was Don Francisco who decided his son should
go to the University of Santo Tomas, a prestigious institution run by the Dominican order.

Rizal, upon entering the university, was not certain which course of study he wanted to
pursue. The Jesuit priests who had been his former mentors had advised him to take up
farming, or to join the order and be a man of the cloth. However, his tastes went towards law,
literature, or medicine. In the end, he decided to sign up for Philosophy and Letters during his
freshman year because of the following reasons:
  It was what his father would have wanted for him.
 He had failed to seek the advice of the rector of the Ateneo, Father Ramon Pablo. 
As part of the course, he had to complete units in the following subjects:
 Cosmology and Metaphysics - Excellent
 Theodicy - Excellent
 History of Philosophy - Excellent

After completing his first year, Rizal decided to take up medicine as his university course.
This change of heart was due to two factors:

 Father Ramon Pablo, rector of the Ateneo, had advised him to pursue the course.
 Rizal's mother had failing eyesight and he thought he owed it to her to become a doctor
and cure her condition.

Rizal's performance at the University of Santo Tomas was not as excellent as his time at
the Ateneo. His grades after shifting to medicine had suffered as well:
 Physics - Fair
 National History- Fair
 Chemistry- Excellent 
 Anatomy - Good
 Dissection- Good

2nd Year (1879-1880)

 Anatomy 2- Good
 Dissection 2- Good
 Philosophy- Good
 Private Hygiene - Good
 Pub Hygiene - Good
3rd Year (1880-1881)
 Gen. Pathology- Fair
 Therapeutics- Excellent
 Surgery- Good

4th Year (1881-1882)

 Med. Pathology- very good
 Surgical pathology- very good
 Obstetrics- very good

Unfortunately, Rizal was not happy at UST and this reflected on his grades. There were
three main factors that contributed to his unhappiness at the university, namely:
 The Dominican professors were hostile to him.
 Filipino students suffered discrimination.
 The method of instruction at UST was obsolete and repressive.
Likewise, there were three main reasons for his struggling academic performance (Guerrero,
1998):
 Rizal was not satisfied with the system of education at the university.
 There were plenty of things to distract a young man in the peak of his youth. 
 Medicine was not Rizal's true vocation.

He would later find out that his real calling was in the arts, not in medicine. 

KRISTINE JOY PANGAHIN BSMT 2-Y2-5