ABLIAN, ERNEST November 9, 2020

BTVTE 2A Ms. Dane Rochelle Nalicat

Education the ideas of Rizal that still applicable today. The degree of importance
that Rizal attributed to education is perhaps illustrated by his clear and simple
advice to his younger sister, Trinidad, in a letter in 1886. He was then in Germany.
Rizal wrote to her, and I quote: “Now that you are still young, you should strive to
read, read, and learn. You must not allow yourself to be conquered by indolence
because it costs so little to cast it off.” Rizal already recognized the importance of
education in the progress and welfare of the nation when he was only a teenager.
Eighteen years old, to be more precise. Thus, in his poem, Through Education Our
Motherland Receives Light, he said that education “lifts the motherland to the
highest station.” It is only through education that the country will prosper. In his
essay, The Indolence of the Filipinos, he wrote that the system of education must
promote economic progress and activity. He recognized the importance of
vocational education. Rizal’s ideas on education were echoed and restated by the
freedom fighters of the turn of the (20th) century, and the leaders of independence
movements after the Second World War when many colonies of the western
powers clamored and fought for independence and freedom for their people.
Today, we hear parents, teachers, government officials, our leaders, telling us,
advising us, cajoling us, or ordering us, again and again, to “read, read, and learn”.
It is only through education that we as individuals will achieve new heights and
prosperity. It is through education that countries will prosper and governments will
be cleansed of corruption and demagoguery. Listen to speeches of our government
officials, of education advocates, and you will hear the echoes of Rizal’s advice to
his younger sister and of the idea on the importance of education. Education for
him and for us are very important that's why it always be applicable and it is
recognized and part of our wealth.