Gumtang, Nessah Mae R.

Module 2
ABBS-2A
SET A
Rizal’s family, childhood, and early education.
In Rizal’s time, their family was considered as the biggest families. Apart from Chinese,

the Mercado-Rizal family contained traces of Japanese, Spanish, Malay, and even Negrito blood,

according to researchers. Jose Rizal was born into a family of 13, which included his parents,

Francisco Mercado II and Teodora Alonso Realonda, as well as nine sisters and one brother. He

was born in Calamba, Laguna at the 22nd of June, 1861, as the seventh child of Francisco

Mercado Rizal and Teodora Alonso y Quintos. Rizal's mother, a remarkable woman of strong

character and fine culture, was his first instructor. He learned the alphabet and prayers on her lap

when he was three years old. His mother taught him to read and write in 1867. His father

engaged Leon Monroy, a classmate, to teach Rizal the fundamentals of Latin. Rizal received his

early education in the towns of Calamba and Bian. It was a normal schooling experience for a

boy of an ilustrado household at the time. The laborious memory method, aided by the teacher's

whip, was used to push knowledge into the pupils' heads. Despite the flaws in the Spanish

system of elementary education, Rizal was able to obtain the requisite schooling in Manila to

prepare for college. Jose Rizal, like all Filipino boys, had many fond childhood memories. He

grew up in a loving environment, surrounded by parental love, imbued with family joys, and

sanctified by prayers. He spent his early years of childhood in the midst of such a serene,

sophisticated, God-loving family. Rizal's mother was the one who opened his heart and eyes to

the world around him; being religious in nature, having a spirit of self-sacrifice, and having a

passion for arts and literature are features he inherited from his mother, and these aspects can be

observed throughout Rizal's life.

 SET B

Rizal’s reasons for studying abroad.

Jose Rizal left the nation in May 1882 after completing his fourth year of medical school

to seek further studies overseas. He picked this field of medicine in particular because he wanted

to help his mother with an eye problem. He enrolled in the Universidad Central de Madrid in

Spain to study medicine. He flew to France in June 1883 to examine how medicine was

performed there. After his three-month sojourn in France, Rizal returned to Madrid and thought

about publishing a book that exposed the colonial relationship of Spain and the Philippines. This

idea was realized in March 1887, with the publication of the novel Noli Me Tangere in Germany.

Rizal returned to Manila in August 1887, after five years in Europe. However, his homecoming

was met by the friars’ furor over Noli Me Tangere. Jose Riza's three-year sojourn in Spain

(1882–1885) brought him into direct contact with the liberal wave that was sweeping Europe at

the time. The scientific investigation of politics and society that was taking place in many

regions of Europe piqued his attention and drove him to educate himself as well as improve his

country. Jose Rizal's travels and adventures were a significant part of his education and

sophistication, as they allowed him to learn about the cultures and politics of other

countries. His ultimate sojourn in Europe for further study enlarged and opened his perspective,

allowing him to consider European countries as models for his own country to follow. As a

young man passionate for information, he immersed himself in academic and non-academic

interests as soon as he stepped foot on the vast continent. In Rizal's life, the great European

countries of Spain, France, Germany, England, Belgium, and Italy left lasting traces.