Rizal's Life - Family, Childhood, and Education
Rizal's Life - Family, Childhood, and Education
Rizal's Life - Family, Childhood, and Education
GEC
108Teodora
Narcisa, MIDTERMS REVIEWER
(Rizal’s mother),
FM – 2A
learned at the age of three the alphabet
Gregorio, Manuel, and Jose. and the prayers.
Rizal is the seventh of the eleven "My mother," wrote Rizal in his student
children: memoirs, "taught me how to read and to
1) Saturnina say haltingly the humble prayers which I
2) Paciano – second father raised fervently to God."
3) Narcisa
4) Olimpia As tutor, Doña Teodora was patient,
5) Lucia conscientious, and understanding. It was
6) Maria she who first discovered that her son had a
7) Jose talent for poetry. Accordingly, she
8) Concepcion – Concha (First encouraged him to write poems. To
Sorrow) lighten the monotony of memorizing the
9) Josefa ABC’s and to stimulate her son’s
10) Trinidad imagination, she related many stories.
11) Soledad
As Jose grew older, his parents employed
Rizal's family was a mixture of races. They private tutors to give him lessons at home.
were a combination of Negrito, Malay, First – Maestro Celestino
Indonesian, Japanese, Chinese, and Second – Maestro Lucas Padua
Spanish, though Jose was predominantly Leon Monroy – old man, a former
Malayan. Mercado was the original classmate of Rizal’s father.
surname of the Rizal family. Domingo He lived at Rizal’s home.
Lamco, Jose's great-great-grandfather, Instructed Jose in Spanish and
adopted the name Rizal in 1731 and it Latin
became a second surname of the family. He died five months after.
After a Monroy’s death, the hero’s parents
EARLY EDUCATION decided to send their gifted son to a private
school in Biñan.
CALAMBA AND BINAN
It was a typical schooling that a son of an JOSE GOES TO BINAN
ilustrado family received during his time,
June 1869 – Sunday, Afternoon
characterized by the four R’s- reading,
Paciano – rode in carromata – one
writing, arithmetic, and religion.
and one-half hours’ drive.
Instruction was rigid and strict. Knowledge
Aunt’s house – Jose was to lodge.
was forced into the minds of the pupils by
Leandro – they went sightseeing in the
means of the tedious memory method
town.
aided by the teacher’s whip.
Instead of enjoying the sights, Jose
Despite the defects of the Spanish system became depressed because of
of elementary education, Rizal was able to homesickness.
acquire the necessary instruction
"In the moonlight," he recounted,
preparatory for college work in Manila. It
"I remembered my hometown, my
may be said that Rizal, who was born a
idolized mother, and my solicitous
physical weakling, rose to become an
sisters. Ah, how sweet to me was
intellectual giant not because of, but rather
Calamba, my own town, in spite
in spite of, the outmoded and backward
of the fact that was not as wealthy
system of instruction obtaining in the
as Biñan."
Philippines during the last decades of
Spanish regime.
FIRST DAY IN BIÑAN SCHOOL
THE HERO’S FIRST TEACHER Monday – went to the school of
Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz.
The first teacher of Rizal was his mother,
who was a remarkable woman of good
character and fine culture. On her lap, he
GEC
108– houseMIDTERMS
School REVIEWER
of the teacher, small
FM – 2A
a fight outside the school, and even told
nipa hut about 30 meters from the lies to discredit him before the teacher’s
home of Jose’s aunt. eyes. Consequently, the teacher had to
Immediately, Jose was assigned his punish Jose.
seat in the class. The teacher asked
him: EARLY SCHOOLING IN BIÑAN
Jose had a very vivid imagination and a
"Do you know Spanish?" very keen sense of observation.
"A little, sir," replied the Calamba lad. 7 years old – traveled with his father for the
"Do you know Latin?" first time to Manila and Antipolo.
"A little, sir." To fulfill the promise of a
pilgrimage made by his mother at
The boys in the class, especially Pedro, the the time of his birth.
teacher’s son laughed at Jose’s answers. They embarked in a casco, a very
Jose described his teacher in Biñan as ponderous vessel commonly
follows: used in the Philippines.
"He was tall, thin, long necked, with It was the first trip on the lake.
sharp nose and a body slightly bent As darkness fell, he spent the
forward, and he used to wear a sinamay hours by the katig.
shirt, woven by the skilled hands of the Although he was seized with a
women of Batangas. He knew by the superstitious fear when he saw a
heart the grammars by Nebrija and water snake entwine itself around
Gainza. Add to this severity that in my the bamboo beams of the katig.
judgement was exaggerated and you Antipolo
have a picture, perhaps vague, that I He experienced the sweetest
have made of him, but I remember only emotions upon seeing the gay
this." banks of the Pasig and the
towns of Cainta and Taytay.
FIRST SCHOOL BRAWL He prayed, kneeling before the
Monday, Afternoon – teacher was image of the Virgin of Peace and
having his siesta. Good Voyage.
Jose met the bully, Pedro. He would later in sing in elegant
Jose challenged Pedro to fight. verses.
Jose, having learned the art of Manila
wrestling from his athletic Tio Manuel, He saw the great metropolis, with
defeated the bigger boy. its Chinese sores and European
Jose then became popular among his bazaars.
classmates. He then visited his elder sister,
Andres Salandanan – challenged Jose Saturnina, in Santa Ana, who was
to arm wrestle. boarding student in the Concordia
Jose lost and nearly cracked his head College.
on the sidewalk.
In succeeding days, he had fights with HIGHER EDUCATION AND LIFE ABROAD
the boys in Binan.
ATENEO DE MANILA
He was not quarrelsome by nature, but
he never ran away from a fight. It was known to be the most
prestigious college for boys because
BEST STUDENT IN SCHOOL of its great teachings.
Rizal took and passed the examination
In academic studies, Jose beat all Biñan
in COLLEGE OF SAN JUAN DE
boys. He surpassed them all in Spanish,
LETRAN, but he enrolled in ATENEO
Latin, and other subjects.
when he came back to Manila.
Some of his older classmates were jealous
of his intellectual superiority. They wickedly ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
squealed to the teacher whenever Jose had
GEC 108
According to Ambeth MIDTERMS REVIEWER
Ocampo, there were ARETHMETIC – Excellent
FM – 2A
only 12 students in a class, nine of which, ALGEBRA – Excellent
including Jose Rizal, graduated GREEK – Excellent
sobresaliente with the same excellence
mark in all their subjects in school year 4TH YEAR IN ATENEO
1876-77. RHETORIC & POETRY- Excellent
FRENCH- Excellent
16 yrs. old – Rizal graduated with GEOMETRIC &
highest honors. TRIGONOMETRY- Excellent
He took a post-graduated course there
5th Year in Ateneo
in land surveying.
PHILOSOPHY- Excellent
1877 – completed his surveyor’s
training. PHILOSOPHY 2- Excellent
May 1878 – passed the licensing MINERALOGY & CHEMISTRY-
exam. Excellent
1881 – granted a license in 1881. PHYSICS- Excellent
June 10, 1872 – accompanied by BOTANY & ZOOLOGY- Excellent
Paciano.
He took the entrance examinations at UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS 1877 –
the College of San Juan de Letran 1882
which was first wish by his father but Jose Rizal, having completed his Bachiller
change to Ateneo instead. en Artes at the Ateneo Municipal, was now
Fr. Magin Fernando refuse to admit eligible for higher education at a university.
him because: His mother, Doña Teodora, had second
Late registration thoughts about sending her son to school
Sickly and undersized for his age because of the previous incident involving
Fr. Manuel Xerez – Burgos (Nephew the execution of friars Gomez, Burgos and
of Fr. Burgos) interceded. Zamora.
GEC 108
MIDTERMS REVIEWER
History of Philosophy
FM – 2A
His report card was very impressive.
SHIFTING TO MEDICINE
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.
Unfortunately, Rizal was not happy at
UST, and this was reflected on his
grades (Zaide & Zaide, 1999).
There were three main factors that
contributed to his unhappiness at the
university, namely:
1. The Dominican professors were
hostile to him.
2. Filipino students suffered
discrimination.
3. The method of instruction at UST
was obsolete and repressive.