JOSE RIZAL: HIS EDUCATION AND CAREER

Rizal’s Formative Years in Ateneo and Scholastic Records

The role of the Jesuits in Philippine education is very important. After they were expelled from
the archipelago in 1768, the order remained dormant until members returned in 1859. When the
Jesuits re-emerged to convert the Mindanao population, they were also asked to take chargeof
the Ateneo School. By 1865, Ateneo was a secondary school that offered rigorous courses almost
equivalent to college academics. Ateneo was considered the finest school in the Phlippines because
of the rigorous intellectual standards of the Jesuits.

It was in this environment that Jose Rizal began the education that would solidify his political
thoughts. While at Ateneo, Rizal won a special prize in poetry for “A La Javentud Filipina,” and
he cultivated the intellectual direction which led to his nationalistic writings.

While attending Ateneo, Rizal developed into a first-rate student. he was remembered as an
original thinker, a creative scholar and a natural leader. The Ateneo years were a coming-out period
for Rizal. He not only became the leader of his fellow students, but he also took up fencing and
gymnastics.

The most noticeable change in Rizal’s education was his mastery of Spanish. When Rizal
began school, he was only moderately successful in speaking and writing Spanish. But Rizal
worked hard, read constantly and finally Father Francisco de Paula Sanchez remarked that he
was becoming proficient in the language. At this point, Rizal began writing in Spanish. Most of his
famous works were written in that language.

It was Father Sanchez who recognized Rizal’s talent as a poet and encouraged him to practice
this craft. Rizal’s student poems are impressionistic and amateurish, but they contain the seeds of
his future nationalism. As a member of the society of Muses, Rizal enjoyed himself, but
increasingly found his poems expressing a national theme. He could see a sense of Philippine
nationalism in writing about flowers; even the early poems suggest critical voice that castigated
the Spanish for their foibles and follies.
 Equally important was Father Jose Villaclara who instructed Rizal in the sciences and
philosophy. He was a young man who believed that Rizal was wasting his time with poetry. He
developed a scientific curiosity in young Rizal that lasted until his death. It was Father Villaclara
who convinced Rizal to take a “scientific attitude” about life. Villaclara’s classes encouraged Rizal
to express his earliest national ideas. He was determined to serve his people. That service would
define the key elements of Philippine national feeling.

During his years in Ateneo Rizal desire to serve as a local nationalist. Rizal write his poem
“ Por la Educacion Recibe Lustre la Patria ( Through Education the Fatherland Receives Glory,”
argues that education is an integral part of the national character. The Friars, by not educating the
Filipinos properly Rizal, argued, prevented the full implementation of civil rights. The second-rate
educational system created second class citizens and Rizal was quick to point out that this was
what the Friars intended.

An examination of Rizal’s student memoirs, as well as his diaries, suggest that the Ateneo
years was the formative ones. Eventually, Rizal would excel as a scientist, a fiction writer, a
nationalist and a medical doctor. All these would have been impossible without his early education.

Ambeth Ocampo, Filipino revisionist historian, is a popular writer and general debunker of
local history, suggests that Rizal was not a good student. However, he went into Ateneo archives
and found that Rizal was an excellent student. Rizal stood out as a student leader and a national
spokesperson, because he had the ability to talk to the average Filipino.

one of the problems with Rizal’s education was the lack of intellectual growth. After Ateneo,
he enrolled at the University of Sto Tomas.

College Life in Unibersidad de Santo Tomas

After Ateneo, Rizal enrolled at the University of Sto Tomas, a Dominican school. This school
was the only University in the Philippines during the 19th century. It was at the University of Sto
Tomas that Rizal continued to create his vision of Philippine nationalism.
The Dominican school was an important change for young Rizal. It was here that Rizal improved
on the academic lessons he learned in Ateneo and placed them at the boarder historical perspective.

Why was the University of Sto Tomas so influential upon Rizal’s intellectual development?
Part of the influence can be traced to the history of the University of Sto Tomas. Quietly on his
own, Rizal continued to work on his political ideas. He received passing marks but found that the
heavy emphasis on science was not to his liking. He remained a poet at heart and his educational
goal was toward the liberal arts.

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:

1. It was what his father would have wanted for him.

2. 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

 Theodicy

 History of Philosophy

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

1. Father Ramon Pablo, rector of the Ateneo, had advised him to pursue the course.

2. 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 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.

Likewise, there were three main reasons for his struggling academic performance
(Guerrero, 1998):

1. Rizal was not satisfied with the system of education at the university.

2. There were plenty of things to distract a young man in the peak of his youth.

3. Medicine was not Rizal's true vocation.

He would later find out that his real calling was in the arts, not in medicine.