STEPHANIE VIDENA

MIDTERM EXAMINATION

Doña Victorina was a character who never seemed to find security in who she really was. Aside
from denying her nationality, she covered herself in cosmetics and frills to improve the appearance she
valued so greatly. The “improvements” helped her mask her Filipino identity to assume a more Spanish-
like appearance: pale skin and curly hair. For her, these physical attributes represented her integration
into Spanish society. Today’s Victorinas, dissatisfied with their true identities, adopt the traits most
desired by the majority, or those they believe are superior to their own. Today, people use treatments
like glutathione to whiten their skin, still believing that pale skin makes one more attractive. Often,
people undergo procedures to make their hair straighter, curlier or even lighter in color. Rizal said Doña
Victorina was an example of how one could forget the value of nationalism. Colonial mentality is
something most of us have in common with the Filipinos of Rizal’s time, who were made to believe that
they were inferior to those who ruled over them. In attaching a sense of inferiority to the word
“Filipino,” we destroy our own opportunities for growth by assuming we can never be greater as a
nation.

The problem of education seemed to have been uppermost in the mind of Rizal. Not without
significance is the fact that the most cherished ambition of Ibarra, the principal character of Noli Me
Tangere, was the erection of a modern school building, to be managed and administered according to
modern methods.

Rizal always considered education as a medicine or something that could cure the problems of
Colonial Philippines. He believed in education that is free from political and religious control. He
asserted that reform can not be achieved if there is no suitable education, a liberal one available to
Filipinos. Rizal's chief aim was to reform Philippine society, first by uncovering its ills and second, by
awakening the Filipino youth. For local education, being controlled by the friars then kept the Filipinos in
the dark, ignorant of their rights and heritage- and meek in the face of oppression. Rizal's definition of
indolence is "little love for work, lack of activity". This, according to him, was a problem in the
Philippines. Indolence therefore has more deeply rooted causes such as abuse and discrimination,
inaction of the government, rampant corruption and red tape, wrong doctrines of the church and wrong
examples from some Spaniards who lead lives of indolence which ultimately led to the deterioration of
Filipinos values.

Rizal was right. No violent revolution has ever succeeded in our country including the Katipunan
revolution against Spain, revolution against America and the 70-year old communist revolution. Only
through love can make lierty. Love is the law of life. When we love, we are worthy not only of liberty but
of everything good, true and beautiful. then "God will provide a weapon." The peaceful, holistic and
constitutional love revolution is the weapon. "Tyranny will crumble like a house of cards." Then we will
create and build a truly new and better society the world's first civilization that will rise, rise and never
fall. The Association of Broadcasting Students commemorates the heroic day of our national hero, Dr.
Jose Rizal who taught us not to be silent whenever and wherever humiliation and suffering exists. We
should be altogether in making positive changes for the youths, for the nation and for our future.
 References

Osias, C. (1995). Rizal and Education. The united states and the territories. Retrieved from
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/AHZ9301.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext

Guillermo, R. (2011). JSTOR. The Problem of Indio Inferiority in science Rizal’s Two Views. Retrieved from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/42634693

Sonido, M. (2012, Jan 22). Inquirer.Net. Jose Rizal’s Doña Victorina as a lesson on citizenship. Retrieved
from https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/132461/jose-rizal%E2%80%99s-dona-victorina-as-a-lesson-on-
citizenship

De Leon, F. (2011, July 29). Gov PH. In Focus: Beyond the Dona Victorina Syndrome. Retrieved from
https://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/in-focus/beyond-the-dona-victorina-syndrome/