Life and Works of

Jose Rizal
 1. Compare and Contrast Rizal’s education in Ateneo
and UST

ATENEO
 Bachelor of Arts &
Surveying
 Jesuits
 High School Diploma/
Secondary Schooling administered by
 Happy under the
Jesuits who loved
and encouraged him
to pursue higher
level of knowledge
 Excellent academic
performance
UST
 Philosophy & Letters
and Medicine
 Dominicans
Both ran and  Higher Education/
Tertiary Schooling

Catholic friars Unhappy under
Dominican racial
discrimination &
hostility
 Good but not so
impressive performance

“Education
“Education isis an
an instrument
instrument that
that inspires
inspires an
an enchanting
enchanting virtue
virtue and
and puts
puts the
the country
country in
in the
the
lofty
lofty seat
seat of
of endless
endless glory.”
glory.” (Jose Rizal, Por la educacion recibe luster la Patria)
As a reformist, Jose Rizal always advocated for education as a means to elevate the
country from Spanish oppression and brutality. But even during his early bird years, the
young Pepe had already valued knowledge and learning in curing ignorance — the poverty
of the mind, courtesy of Doña Teodora, his first teacher. Aside from his mother, Rizal was
educated by two of today’s prominent ivy league universities — Ateneo de Manila and
University of Santo Tomas, to which Rizal had contrasting experiences.
Four months after the martyrdom of GomBurZa and his mother’s imprisonment, Jose was
sent to Manila to pursue his education. As per his father’s wish, he studied in Ateneo
Municipal, a collegiate school administered by Spanish Jesuits — a group of Catholic priests
engaged in a conflictual relationship and rivalry against fellow Catholic friars, the
Dominicans. Hence, Dominican-owned universities such as the College of San Juan de
Letran and UST were the bitter rivals of Jesuit Ateneo, former Escuela Pia or a charity
school that attracted poor boys in Manila. The Jesuit system trains students by means of
rigid discipline and religious preaching. The students were allowed little to no free time
with most hours of the day dedicated to studying. Jose kept himself occupied and busy
with his studies and extra-curricular activities. He engaged in gymnastics and fencing;
was interested in painting and sculpting; became an active member and campus leader
of organizational clubs; and most of all, he was driven by his passion for poetry. As a
result, he became “emperor” in class, obtaining the highest position in the dignitaries.
Rizal was excellent in all subjects. He was “the pride of the Jesuits” during his time as
he graduated with highest honors in his Bachelor of Arts degree with a “sobresaliente”
mark that indicates an outstanding academic performance. Furthermore, his Jesuit
professor whom he admired the most, inspired him to study harder. Hence, following the
advise of Fr. Francisco Sanchez despite his mother’s disapproval, Rizal pursued his higher
education in the University of Santo Tomas, taking the course Philosophy and Letters.
After a year, he shifted to medicine upon the advice of Fr. Pablo Ramon, Rector of
Ateneo and at the same time due to the failing eyesight of Doña Teodora which he
wanted to cure. However, his performance in UST is not as excellent and impressive as
he was in Ateneo. In fact, it was seen by many scholars as “unsatisfactory”, even for
Rizal himself who was found unhappy during his years as a Thomasian. This is marked by
several factors, most of which are attributed to his experiences in the campus. Jose was
disappointed to the Dominican administration. He found the university to be suffocating
his liberal ideals. Moreover, he experienced hostility under his Dominican professors who
often berated Filipino students. It was for this reason that although he was already a
Thomasian, Rizal frequently visited Ateneo where he took a vocational course leading to
the title of Perito Agrimensor or expert surveyor. But it was not only due to his
surveying course — he was more loyal to the Jesuit teachers of Ateneo who seemed to
loved and encouraged him to study despite all odds and challenges posed by his
nationality. The pervading discrimination he experienced was so severe that he decided
to stop studying at UST in 1882.
However, we cannot really compare and contrast his education in Ateneo and UST simply
because the degree of intensity in secondary versus tertiary schooling differs in many
levels. Collegiate education is far difficult from high school. In general, the nature of
studying for tertiary education is different, although his experiences of discrimination in
UST greatly affected the outcome of his academic performance.
 2. Assess Rizal’s aims and reasons for studying abroad

Of all the people in the world, Doña Teodora Alonzo had the greatest influence to
Jose. Throughout his life, Jose Rizal proved to be his mother’s son. Indeed, his love
for his mother was without any doubt, deep and immense. Hence, despite hardships
brought by racial prejudice during his stay in UST, he still pursued his medicinal
education to cure the ailing eyesight of his mother. However, this was not altogether
the reason for Rizal’s departure to study abroad. He had a more important impetus
than just finishing his medicinal course — he sought to embark upon a secret mission
of closely paying attention to the politics of European states and governments as part
of his liberating task to free the oppressed and enslaved Filipinos from the tyrannical
grip of the conquistadors.
Albeit he continued his education by taking up Medicine and Philosophy & Letters in
the Universidad Central de Madrid, Rizal inculcated in his mind his true purpose — he
came to Madrid to study political systems and regimes to prepare himself for the task
of liberating his people. In one of his letters, he begged for his parent’s forgiveness
and stated his real objective:
“But
“But as
as God
God has
has not
not made
made anything
anything useless
useless in
in this
this world,
world, as as all
all beings
beings fulfill
fulfill
obligations
obligations or
or aa role
role in
in the
the sublime
sublime drama
drama of
of Creation,
Creation, II cannot
cannot exempt
exempt myself
myself from
from
this
this duty,
duty, and
and small
small though
though it it be,
be, II too
too have
have aa mission
mission to to fulfill:
fulfill: alleviating
alleviating the
the
sufferings
sufferings of
of my
my fellowmen.
fellowmen. II realize
realize that
that all
all of
of this
this means
means sacrifices,
sacrifices, and
and terrible
terrible
ones.
ones. II imagine
imagine the
the pain
pain which
which II must
must give
give you,
you, but
but II feel
feel something
something that
that obliges
obliges and
and
impels
impels meme to
to leave.
leave. II shall
shall strive
strive with
with fate,
fate, and
and II shall
shall win
win oror lose…
lose… God’s
God’s will
will be
be
done.”
done.”
This decisive journey was the manifestation of how Rizal truly advocated for a pen
rather than a sword. As a reformist, he planned to liberate his fellow countrymen, but
he wanted to do so diplomatically. During his stay in Europe, he was deemed
productive for producing one of his magnum opuses, Noli Me Tangere, a legendary
literary piece that awakened what seemed to be the hopeless spirit of the Filipino
people. All in all, from this information we can infer that Rizal’s reasons for studying
abroad are primarily focused on other people and not himself. He studied medicine
for his mother, and he chose to go abroad to prepare for the liberation of his fellow
Filipinos. This shows that Rizal is selfless and at the same time ambitious. He didn’t
study abroad just because he wanted a more fruitful career for himself but because
he wanted to be a part of something greater.
All in all, Rizal’s decision to observe the European customs and politics abroad as part
of his reformist strategy to relieve his motherland from oppression was a smart move
to make. He made the right choice by studying the situation before making a
liberating reaction.
 3. Evaluate the advice of Governor-General Emilio
Terrero to Rizal to leave the country

“Mighty is the hand that knows when to pick the pen and when to pick the
sword.” (Zaira Wasim)
A few weeks after his homecoming, a storm of controversies broke over Rizal’s Noli Me
Tangere. Eventually, the reverberating war of words had reached the ears of Governor
-General Emilio Terrero, requesting Rizal to appear before him to hear his defense on
the accusations. Being liberal-minded, the governor-general did not find the novel to
be subversive and believed that Rizal was not guilty of such charges. Out of
compassion and generosity, he even assigned a bodyguard to protect Rizal given the
fact that his life was in danger. But because he knew how powerful and influential
Rizal’s enemies were, he advised him to leave the Philippines for his safety, giving
him a chance to escape from the Spanish friars’ madness.
From these information, we can infer that the governor-general was an open-minded
liberal who saw nothing wrong with Rizal’s novel and that everything in it was merely
the truth. However, he also saw the potential danger of how the young intellectual
could lose his head for what he wrote. Hence, the advice of Governor-General Emilo
Terrero was appropriate and perhaps the smartest move to make since the danger
that loomed over Rizal was extremely real. The governor knew that Rizal would not
want to fight with violence and militia, unlike the farmers who protested. Although
the advice was to flee, Rizal did not actually ran away from his cause. He took the
advice and sailed on a ship to Hong Kong, but he continued to smuggle copies of Noli
Me Tangere to the Philippines with the help of his crewman. This highlights Rizal’s
determination and patriotism, as well as his preference for diplomacy. He knew that
it was not safe to fight the Dominicans with guns and weapons, so he still followed the
Governor’s advice to leave the country. Despite this, he still continued to fight for his
motherland albeit not within the Philippine soil.
Governor-General Emilio Terrero knew better that Rizal’s presence could jeopardize
his entire family. Moreover, Rizal as an intellectual could serve his motherland better
by writing liberating novels from afar. Truly, he was far better off with a pen rather
than a sword.