Rizal’s Life: Influences and Early Education
Hereditary Influence
From his Malayan ancestors, Rizal inherited his love for freedom, his innate desire to travel, and his
indomitable courage.
From his Chinese ancestors, he derived his serious nature, frugality, patience, and love for children.
From his Spanish ancestors, he got his elegance of bearing, sensitivity to insult, and gallantry to ladies.
From his father, he inherited a profound sense of self-respect, the love for work, and the habit of
independent thinking.
And from his mother, he inherited his religious nature, the spirit of self-sacrifice, and the passion for arts
and literature.
Environmental Influence
The scenic beauties of Calamba and the beautiful garden of the Rizal family stimulated the inborn
artistic and literary talents of Jose Rizal.
The religious atmosphere at his home fortified his religious nature.
His brother, Paciano, instilled in his mind the love for freedom and justice. From his sisters, he learned to
be courteous and kind to women.
His three uncles inspired him to develop his artistic ability, to develop his frail body and intensified his
voracious reading of good books.
Father Leoncio Lopez, fostered Rizal’s love for scholarship and intellectual honesty.
The death of his sister Concha and the imprisonment of his mother, contributed to strengthen his
character, enabling him to resist blows of adversity in later years.
The Spanish cruelties and abuses awakened his spirit of patriotrism and inspired him to consecrate his
life and talents to redeem his oppressed people.
Aid of Divine Providence
Rizal was providentially destined to be the pride and glory of his nation. God had endowed him with the
versatile gifts of a genius, the vibrant spirit of a nationalist, and the valiant heart to sacrifice for a noble
cause.
Great Influences to Rizal
1. Hereditary Influence
2. Environmental influence
3. Aide of Divine Providence
Rizal’s love for the country awakened when he witnessed execution of GOMBURZA who were sentenced
to death by means of Garrote on February 17, 1972
Rizal had his early education in Calamba and Biñan.
characterized by the four R’s- reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion.
Instruction was rigid and strict. Knowledge was forced into the minds of the pupils by means of the
tedious memory method aided by the teacher’s whip.
It may be said that Rizal, who was born a physical weakling, rose to become an intellect- tual giant not
because of, but rather in spite of, the outmoded and back- ward system of instruction obtaining in the
Philippines during the last decades of Spanish regime.
HERO’S FIRST TEACHER
The first teacher of Rizal was his mother, who was a remarkable woman of good character and fine
culture.
As tutor, Doña Teodora was patient, conscientious, and understanding. It was she who first discovered
that her son had a talent for poetry. Accordingly, she encouraged him to write poems. To lighten the
monotony of memorizing the ABC’s and to stimulate her son’s imagination, she related many stories.
As Jose grew older, his parents employed private tutors to give him lessons at home. The first was
Maestro Celestino and the second, Maestro Lucas Padua. Later, an old man named Leon Monroy, a
former classmate of Rizal’s father, became the boy’s tutor. This old teacher lived at the Rizal home and
instructed Jose in Spanish and Latin. Unfortunately, he did not lived long. He died five months later.
After a Monroy’s death, the hero’s parents decided to send their gifted son to a private school in Biñan.
Jose Goes to Biñan One Sunday afternoon in June 1869, Jose, after kissing the hands of his parents and a
tearful parting from his sister, left Calamba for Biñan. He was accompanied by Paciano, who acted as
his second father. The two brothers rode in a carromata, reaching their destination after one and onehalf hours’ drive. They proceeded to their aunt’s house, where Jose was to lodge. It was almost night
when they arrived, and the moon was about to rise.
First Day in Biñan School The next morning (Monday) Paciano brought his younger brother to the school
of Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz. The school was in the house of the teacher, which was a small nipa
hut about 30 meters from the home of Jose’s aunt. Immediately, Jose was assigned his seat in the class.
The teacher asked him: "Do you know Spanish?" "A little, sir," replied the Calamba lad. "Do you know
Latin?" "A little, sir." The boys in the class, especially Pedro, the teacher’s son laughed at Jose’s answers.
The teacher sharply stopped all noises and begun the lessons of the day.
Jose described his teacher in Biñan as follows: "He was tall, thin, long-necked, with sharp nose and a
body slightly bent forward, and he used to wear a sinamay shirt, woven by the skilled hands of the
women of Batangas. He knew by the heart the grammars by Nebrija and Gainza. Add to this severity that
in my judgement was exaggerated and you have a picture, perhaps vague, that I have made of him, but I
remember only this." First School Brawl In the afternoon of his first day in school, when the teacher was
having his siesta, Jose met the bully, Pedro. He was angry at this bully for making fun of him during his
conversation with the teacher in the morning.
Jose challenged Pedro to a fight. The latter readily accepted, thinking that he could easily beat the
Calamba boy who was smaller and younger. The two boys wrestled furiously in the classroom, much to
the glee of their classmates. Jose, having learned the art of wrestling from his athletic Tio Manuel,
defeated the bigger boy. For this feat, he became popular among his classmates. After the class in the
afternoon, a classmate named Andres Salandanan challenged him to an arm-wrestling match. They went
to a sidewalk of a house and wrestled with their arms. Jose, having the weaker arm, lost and nearly
cracked his head on the sidewalk. In succeeding days, he had other fights with the boys of Biñan. He was
not quarrelsome by nature, but he never ran away from a fight.
Jose’s daily routine in Binan
Hears mass at 4 a.m. or studies lesson before going to mass
Goes to orchard to look for mabolo to eat
Breakfast
Goes to class at 10 a.m.
Lunch break
Goes back to school at 2 p.m.
Goes home at 5 p.m.
Prays with cousins
Studies lessons, then draws a little
Has supper
Prays again
Plays in the street if moon is bright
Sleeps
Best Student in School In academic studies, Jose beat all Biñan boys. He surpassed them all in Spanish,
Latin, and other subjects. Some of his older classmates were jealous of his intellectual superiority. They
wickedly squealed to the teacher whenever Jose had a fight outside the school, and even told lies to
discredit him before the teacher’s eyes. Consequently, the teacher had to punish Jose.
End of Biñan Schooling
December 17, 1870 – Jose left Biñan
Talim – the steamer that Jose rode
Arturo Camps – a Frenchman and a friend of Don Francisco, he took care of Jose during the trip
Chapter 3 EARLY EDUCATION IN CALAMBA AND BIÑAN
Teaching was characterized by four R’s:
Reading
Writing
Arithmetic
Religion
Instruction was rigid and strict. Knowledge was forced into the minds of pupil.
By means of tedious memory method aided by teachers whips.
Education in Spanish era:
Primary level to the tertiary level of education
Schools focused on the Christian Doctrines
Separate school for boys and girls
Wealthy Filipino or the Ilustrados were accommodated in the schools
The Hero’s First Teacher
The first teacher of Rizal was her mother
A remarkable woman of good character and fine culture
Rizal at the age of 3 learned the alphabet and prayers.
Doña Teodora discovered Jose’s talent for poetry and encourage him to write
Private tutors of Rizal
Maestro Celestino was Jose’s first private tutor.
Maestro Lucas Padua was second private tutor
Maestro Leon Monroy became the hero’s tutor in Spanish and Latin. he was the classmate of Don
Francisco (died 5 months later)
Uncle Jose Alberto – gave wise direction in the studies of Jose
Uncle Gregorio – instilled into the mind of Jose the love for education.
“Work hard and perform every task very carefully; learn to be swift as well as thorough; be independent
is thinking; and make visual pictures of everything.”
Tio Manuel Alberto- seeing Jose was frail in nature, concerned himself with the physical development of
his nephew
He also taught Jose to love for open air and admiration for the beauty of nature.
Jose’s parents decided to send him to a private school in Biñan
Jose Goes to Biñan
June 1869 – Jose goes to Biñan with Paciano
Carromata – transportation
Lodged at her aunt’s house
First day in Biñan school
School of Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz – formal teacher
Rizal Described his Maestro as tall, thin, long necked, sharp-nosed, with a body slightly bent forward.
The school was in maestro’s house
First school Brawl
Pedro (teacher’s son) (bully) – wrestling
Andres Saladan- arm wrestling
Jose never run away from a fight
Painting lessons in Biñan
Near the school was the house of an old painter, Father in-law of the schoolteacher
Old Juancho
Freely gave Jose painting lessons
Jose Rizal and his classmate Jose Guevarra become apprentices of old Jauncho.
Daily life in Biñan
Jose’s Daily Routine:
Hears mass at 4 a.m. or studies lesson before going to mass
Goes to orchard to look for a mabolo to eat
Breakfast
Goes to class at 10a.m
Lunch break
Goes back to school at 2p.m
Goes home at 5p.m
Studies lesson and draws a little
Has supper
Prays again
Plays in the street if moon is bright
Sleeps
Best Student in School
Jose surpassed his classmates in Spanish, Latin and other subjects
His older classmates were jealous and squealed to the teacher whenever he had fights
Jose usually receives five to six blows.
End of Biñan Schooling
December 17, 1870 Jose left Biñan after one year and a half schooling in that town.
Jose receives letter from Saturnina
Talim- the steamer that Jose rode
Arturo Camps- Frenchman and a friend of Don Francisco, took care of Jose during the trip.
Martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za
January 20, 1872- Cavite mutiny
February 17, 1872- Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora were implicated and
executed
Leaders of Secular movement. To filipinize the Philippine parishes
Martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za
Martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za
They inspired Rizal to fight the evils of Spanish tyranny
Later in 1891, Rizal dedicated his second novel elfilibusterismo, to GomBurZa.
Injustice to Hero’s Mother
In 1872, Doña Teodora was arrested on malicious charge that she aided his brother Jose Alberto in
trying to poison his wife
Jose Alberto planned to divorce his wife because of her infidelity
Jose Alberto’s wife connived with the Spanish lieutenant of guardia civil and filed a case against Rizal’s
mother
Injustice to Hero’s Mother
Antonio Vivencio del Rosario-Gobernadorcillio of Calamba, helped the lieutenant arrest Doña Teodora
50 kilometers -Doña Teodora was made to walk from Calamba to the provincial prison in Santa Cruz
Great Influences to Rizal (3-8) DARLENE
Hero’s first teacher and private tutors (15-19) Christy
Painting lesson and daily life in Binan (23-25)
Best student in school, End of Binan Schooling (26-29)
Injustice to Hero’s Mother (33-34)