Lecture 5: Rizal as a Student

Life and Works of Jose Rizal

SS041
Ezekiel Guevarra
Early Education
• Private tutors was hired to teach him in Calamba.

• In 1869 Pepe was sent in Biñan

• Teacher in Biñan was Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz

• Learned painting to an old painter called Juancho

• In 1870, before the Christmas season, Pepe received a

letter from his sister Saturnina informing of the arrival
of the steamer Talim, which will bring him from Biñan
to Calamba.

• Upon reading the letter, Pepe knew that it was his last
time that he will be seeing Biñan.
Tragedies of 1872
• On ethe nigh of January 1872, about 200 Filipino
Soldiers and workmen of the Cavite arsenal rose to a
violent munity because of the abolition of their usual
privileges, including the exemption from tribute and
polo by Governor General Rafael de Izquierdo. This
mutiny will implicate Fr. Jose Burgos, Jacinto
Zamora, and Mariano Gomez, and will be known as
the 3 martyred priest.

• Same year in June, Doña Teodora was arrested due to

an allegation of poisoning the second wife of her
brother, Jose Alberto. This was after the wife of
Alberto thought that Teodora was the one who told
Alberto about her infidelity. The wife of Alberto setup
the arrest of Teodora with the said allegation. After 2
years, she was found innocent of the crime.
Ateneo Triumph
• Pepe initially passed an entrance exam in Colegio de
San Juan de Letran but later changed his mind and
decided to go to Ateneo de Manila instead.

• He was reluctantly accepted by Ateneo due to 1) late

registration, and 2) being sickly and undersized for his
age.

• On his first year in Ateneo, he performed well and

become 1st in the academic ranking and maintained
his academic standing for the rest of his stay.

• Though his maintained his standing, he was only

rewarded a gold medal in his Latin Class for the
reason that he cannot speak Spanish well in the other
classes.
Ateneo Triumph
• Pepe graduated in Ateneo with Bachelors of Arts with
highest honor. (During this time, Bachelor of Arts is
equivalent to a high school and junior college diploma.
However, further education in university was not required
during his time).

• In his stay whole stay in Ateneo, he received a grade of

Excellent in all of his subjects such as philosophy, physics,
biology, chemistry, languages, minerology, etc.

• Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez was one of the early mentor

of Rizal with his literature. During the Pepe’s leisure time, he
will consult Fr. Sanchez to improve his poetry.

• Aside from literature, he also learned painting from a famous

Spanish painter Agustin Saez, and sculpture under Romualdo
de Jesus.
Medical Studies at UST
• After graduating in Ateneo, his father and his brother would
like him to pursue higher education. However, his mother,
though an advocate of education, feared that Pepe would
end up like the Gomburza if he further his studies in Manila.
Pepe himself was surprised with this thought of his mother.

• In April 1877, who was then nearly 16 years old, went to

University of Santo Tomas with a course of Philosophy and
Letters (after this course, he could already receive a license
to teach).

• However, he seek an advice from the Ateneo Rector to guide

him on what course he should really take. The rector
suggested that he take Medicine as his university course.
Subsequently, Pepe decided to take medicine due to the
failing eye sight of his mother.
Medical Studies at UST
• While doing his preparatory and regular medical course, he
enrolled in a vocational course and was awarded of perito
agrimenso or expert land surveyor. But because of his young
age, he was awarded the title only in 1881.

• Jose Rizal’s grade were not impressive in his 4 years in

medical school, though he continued to excel in literature
and philosophy.

• Some claimed that the reason for his unimpressive grades in

medical course was because of racial discrimination of his
Dominical teachers. However, it is also consistent that Rizal
has some difficulty with his medical subjects during study in
Spain.
Medical Studies at UST
• Sobresaliente = Excellent
• Aprovado = Fair
• Bueno = Good
• Notable = Very Good
Rizal in Madrid
• In 1882, Jose Rizal did not finish his last year of
medical study in UST. He decided to go to Spain to
continue his studies to observe the political climate in
Europe and bring the liberal ideology to the Philippines.

• Pepe went to Universidad Central de Madrid and to

finish his medical courses. In 1884, he was awarded his
license to be a physician.

• Pepe pursue his doctorate degree after he got his

license. However, he was not able to defend his final
dissertation (thesis) because he was in Heidelberg.

• While he was training in Heidelberg, Pepe become a

member of the Anthropological Society, Ethnological
Society, and Geographical Society of Berlin. These were
exclusive societies for renowned and respected
scientist.
Important Notes
• Education was valued by the Mercados. In early the age of the Mercado siblings, they were
introduced to variety of books in their library.

• Rizal as a surname was used by Pepe when he was about to enroll in Ateneo. This is to hide his
surname Mercado due to the connection of his brother Paciano to Fr. Jose Burgos. In his
correspondence to Ferdinand Blumentritt, he mentioned that for the first time, he felt that he was a
bastard.

• Rizal excelled in his humanities course, however, it also showed that he had some difficulties in
his medical courses in UST and Universidad Central de Madrid.

• While he was doing this medical studies in Madrid, he was able to get some courses in humanities
that allowed him to be qualify as a teacher.

• Ophthalmology, in his time , was a new field in medicine. It was not taught in school. To be an
ophthalmologist, one should be trained under a renowned in the field. In the case of Pepe, he was
trained by Dr. Louie de Wreckert (Nov. 1885 – Feb. 1886), and Dr. Otto Becker in University of
Heidelberg.
END OF PRESENTATION

Life and Works of Jose Rizal

SS041
Ezekiel Guevarra