Rizal’ Education Abroad (1882-1885)
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Rizal finished his Licentiate in Medicine on June 21, 1884. He also passed all his subjects leading
to a degree in Doctor in Medicine but was not awarded his doctor’s diploma for failing to pay
the corresponding graduation fees and to present the required thesis for the degree.
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On June 19, 1885, he obtained his Licentiate in Philosophy and Letters with a grade of Excellent.
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Rizal also took up subjects in the fine arts in the Academia de San Fernando and continued with
his literary activities.
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Rizal specialized in Ophthalmology under the tutelage of well-known professionals: Dr. Louis de
Weckert and Dr. Otto Becker.
Rizal’s Passion for Reading
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“Lives of the Presidents of the United States”
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Eugene Sue’s “The Wandering Jew”
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Harriet Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
Rizal’s Attitude Towards Education
Discouraged by the attitudes of Filipino students, he wrote, “There was too much discussion about such
useless things as the number of buttons on a coat but not a word about the rights of Filipinos, as for
instance about their representation in the Spanish Cortes. Perhaps they were evading these problems in
order not to touch painful wounds; they were all bleeding within, but as they were all discouraged about
the remedy, they preferred to wait for death, laughing and playing.”
Rizal’s Attitude Towards Education
In a letter that Rizal wrote to his sister, Trinidad, he says, “At your age, German women seem to be 20 to
24 years, as much as their faces as for their ways. They dress their hair simply, which is thin, but beautiful
in their childhood. They go everywhere walking so nimbly or faster than men, carrying their books,
baskets, without minding anyone and only their own business.”
Rizal’s Attitude Towards Education
“If our sister Maria had been educated in Germany, she would have been notable because German
women are active and somewhat masculine. … They are more concerned with substance than with
appearances. … It is a pity that there in our country the principal adornment of all women almost always
consists of clothes and finery rather than knowledge.”
Rizal’s Attitude Towards Education
“…For these reason, now that you are still young and you have time to learn, it is necessary that you
study by reading and reading attentively. It is a pity that you allow yourself to be dominated by laziness
when it takes too little effort to shake it off. It is not enough to form only the habit of study and later
everything goes by itself.”