Rizal’s Life, Works and Writings

LESSON 4: RIZAL’S LIFE: HIGHER EDUCATION AND LIFE

ABROAD OF RIZAL

INTRODUCTION
Taking up Rizal course for credits, like reading Shakespeare to get by English
courses, can be tiresome for the youth. If reading and discussing the text about
Rizal cannot be fun, then it will just be like a cold stone without elaboration.
To discuss about a hero is taking him as a person with flesh and blood not as a
deity or a supernatural being that is an object of reverence without understanding.
Rizal was once a student just like you. He struggled and hustled just like every
student did. To appreciate a hero like Rizal, we should study him as a person not
only highlighting his exceptional strength but also his weaknesses that makes him
a human being. When we realize that he is like us, then, we can truly appreciate
his being human and his great and exemplary deeds are word emulating.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. Explain the principle of assimilation advocated by the Propaganda
Movement
2. Appraise Rizal’s Relationship with other Propagandists.
3. Analyze Rizal’s growth as a Propagandist and disavowal of assimilation.
4. Display an appreciation for education and love of country.

ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

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PRESENTATION OF CONTENT
HIGHER EDUCATION:
Ateneo De Manila University (1872-1877)

Jose had many distinguishable stints when he was schooled in the

secondary level. Aged 11 years old, Rizal started his secondary schooling at the
Ateneo Municipal School in Manila. Prior to his admission, Jose, accompanied by
his brother Paciano, underwent with the impasse of being refused by the school’s
registrar to be admitted. Him being physically unqualified for the secondary level
was only one of the reasons used against him. It was through the intercession of
Manuel Xerex Buegos that he was finally admitted (Szczepanski, 2019).

During his stay, a hierarchy among students was present. Students were
categorized based on their academic performance and qualities. According to
Balbin et al. (2018), at that time, students were divided into two empires that were
determined from their living condition—the Roman Empire for internos
(boarders) and the Carthaginian Empire for the non-boarders. Rizal belonged in
the Carthaginian Empire, and only after a month he was able to attain the status as
emperor, which was the highest position in an empire.

In his letter, Jose wrote that after a month of achieving the title of emperor
and receiving a prize with the grade of excellent, he was dismayed and “disgusted
on account of some words of utterance” by his professor. Eventually, for a period,
he said to have lost his passion to study anymore. Although Rizal still performed
well in his studies, having all grades of excellent (unos=highest), he no longer

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aimed to be emperor nor to receive a reward for distinguishment (Rizal’s

Scholastic Records; Engaging Rizal, 2018). It was also in Ateneo that he
developed his passion for poetry and literature, which he too tributes to his
professor Francisco de Paula Sanches who inspired him to study hard and even
write prize-winning poetry. Rizal at the age of 12 enjoyed reading novels and
books of different language that’s far from his age. In the same period, Rizal
wrote the poem “My First Inspiration” which was addressed to her mother in
jubilee of her liberty from prison and at the same time in celebration of her natal
day.

On March 23, 1877, Jose Rizal finished as one of the best students in his
time and received his Bachelor of Arts diploma (sobresaliente), which is
equivalent to a secondary school diploma today (Balbin et al., 2018).

TERTIARY EDUCATION: UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS (1877-1882)

In the year 1877, Jose again enrolled in Ateneo in a land surveyor and
assessor vocational course. In which he finished his training in the same year and
passed the licensure examination in May 1878. He was only 17 years old at that
time. Jose was only granted his license in 1881 upon reaching the age of 20.

In the same year of 1877, Jose was caught in the dilemma of taking up
Law in college. He was later discouraged by his brother Paciano by imparting in
his letter that rather than Law, “there are few who practice medicine and the arts,

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they make progress here and live peacefully, the one thing we should look for in
this world”. Jose later enrolled in the University of Santo Tomas in 1877 under
the Philosophy and Letters program, but after a year in the institution, Jose shifted
to the Medicine program, specifically in the Pathology specialization. This was
for the reason that he wanted to find cure in the deteriorating eyesight of his
mother, which again among his letters, he called as an illness that is “far beyond
their years”.

Balbin et al. (2018) recounted the event of Rizal’s reasons for

discontinuing his study in the University of Santo Tomas (UST):

“After four years of medical studies, Rizal left UST

for Spain on May 1, 1882. Among the reasons cited
by different authors regarding this matter are:
because a certain professor of UST caused him
displeasure; because the atmosphere in UST
suffocated him, and it is presumed that because of it
he left; because in his class of medicine the lay
professor made a statement contrary to the textbook
but refused to permit discussion or to give
explanations so Rizal decided he was wasting his
time to remain in the University; because he found
unfriendliness in the University; or because UST
could not give “fuller learning” to the youth, and its
“usefulness was almost, if not altogether nil.”

On the other hand, Szczepanski (2019) alleged that Jose quit the university
after noticing the discrimination against the indio students by the Dominican
professor (Biography of Jose Rizal, National Hero of the Philippines).

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RIZAL’s EDUCATION ABROAD

(1882-1885; Balbin et al., 2018)

Since Jose left UST, and after persuading his father to pursue his studies
abroad, Jose began his academic journey oversees in Spain. Enrolled in
University of Madrid, Jose elucidated the same vigor and skill in various
disciplines that garnered recognition from many organizations. Jose still displayed
the same passion for literature, history, and languages. In fact, Jose invested much
of his allowance to purchasing books such as: “Lives of the Presidents of the
United States”, “A History of English Revolution”, and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
which fed him of revolutionary substance that was later helpful in his novels and
literature.

He finished his Licentiate in Medicine on June 21, 1884 and consequently

passed his subjects leading to a degree in Doctor of Medicine. However, Jose was
not awarded his doctorate diploma for a deficiency in presenting necessary thesis
requirement to finish the program and paying the graduation fees. Jose also
continued and pursued his disrupted study in Philosophy and Letters, and later
obtained licentiate for such in June 19, 1885. Fuelled with the desire to be more
learned, Jose took up subjects in fine arts at the Academia de San Fernando in
pursuit of his literary activities.

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In the furtherance of his study, specifically in his training to specialize as

an Ophthalmologist, he interned to specialists in France and Germany. He entered
as a subordinate to the leading authority among the French oculist, Dr. Louis D.
Weckert; and later regularly assisted in the eye clinic of Dr. Otto Becker at
Heidelberg, Germany (Engaging Rizal, 2018).

What’s notable in this period was the beginning of Jose’s wind-up from
his fascination of the Spanish reign in the Philippines and his reflections on the
adverse culture that the Spaniards have incorporated in the Philippine system of
trade and education. In one of his letters addressed to his sisters, Maria, after
observing how empowered the German women were while he was in the practice
of his profession in Germany, he wrote:

“For these reasons, now that you are still very 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.”

Jose also wrote the letter in reflection of how sad the Filipino attitude was
for settling to an unenthusiastic culture of laziness to study. Well, in the context of
that time, not everyone was given the opportunity to study. But Jose was directing
the message to his sister—a person from an able family; and with the insight that
learning is not limited in the corners of a school, but from reading and learning
from literary materials. Rizal ended his study abroad with energy to return and
give back whatever it was that he learned outside of the country, and with
strategies of reform for the Philippines. He shall later be confronted by the poor
state of the Philippines then under the governance of the Spaniards.

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SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STRUGGLE

Social Struggle

The earliest account of Jose’s social struggle can be taken from his
experience in grade school. Earlier, it was discussed that he experienced
segregation among his classmates in his schooling in Binan, Laguna. In the course
of Jose’s academic journey, he struggled with the discrimination that came with
his intellect. Hence, his knowledge and mind can be tagged as both a blessing and
a curse for him. But in the progress of history, his mind proved to be one of the
revolutionary inspirations of his generation and the next to come.

Jose was able to expand his connections while he was abroad. Came with
it was his struggle to socialize brought upon by the ignorance of other people of
the Filipino race. In one of the documents by Balbin et al. (2018), it was said the
in the attempt of Jose to converse with other passengers in a French steamer
bound for Europe, he was mistaken to be a Chinese or Japanese man, and was not
recognized as a Filipino. Jose expressed his frustration in his passage, “I attracted
the attention of all who saw me; they called me Chinese, Japanese, American,
etc., anything but Filipino!”

Perhaps Jose’s social struggle was not limited to his experiences but it
magnifies to as how he finds fault in the social system of his Motherland. In his
essay addressed to the bold women of Bulacan, he wrote:

“No longer does the Filipina stand with her head

bowed nor does she spend her time on her knees,
because she is quickened by hope in the future; no
longer will the mother contribute to keeping her

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daughter in darkness and bring her up in contempt

and moral annihilation.  And no longer will the
science of all sciences consist in blind submission to
any unjust order, or in extreme complacency, nor will
a courteous smile be deemed the only weapon against
insult or humble tears the ineffable panacea for all
tribulations” (To The Young Women of Malolos).

The passage is in salutation with the feat that women have reached in
Malolos, Bulacan, specifically in the area of education. The happening tells of the
liberation of women from being held from receiving quality education, and
deviates from the norm of society on the supposed duties and narrow rights of
women.

Political Struggle

Jose’s political warfare started at the young age of 11. Though Jose was
not one who believed that violence is the key to attain freedom from the
colonizers; he took the might of the pen to spark a revolution in the minds and
hearts of the Filipinos. Jose’s tender mind was opened to the reality of the
oppression that the Philippines was under in the tragedy of the Cavity Mutiny in
1872. Thus, the fate of the Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora (GOMBURZA) martyrs
were used as motivations by Rizal to spark his propaganda movement, which
shall reflect in the birth of two novels, but would give more political highlight on
the second installment: El Filibusterismo.

In addition, Jose remembers one of his experiences as young man. He did

not recognize a civil guard while walking in the dark of the night and was beaten
for failing to salute him. Outraged, Rizal journeyed to Manila to report the
incident and obtain redress, but the Governor General would not receive him.
Significantly, this particular experience of Jose was also delivered in a chapter of
his novel, the Noli Me Tangere. It is said that Noli Me Tangere is the groundwork
of Jose in introducing the social dilemma in his Motherland (Balbin et al., 2018).

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Also, Jose’s angst over the Spanish justice fueled in the memory of her
mother’s experience after being imprisoned for a set-up, which was discussed in
the earlier paragraphs of this biography (Balbin et al., 2018).

Among the other documented political struggles of Rizal was his political
turndown in his homecoming. Coates (1968) reported that the people of Calamba,
including Rizal's family, who were tenants of an estate owned by the Dominican
friars, submitted a "memorial" to the government 1888, listing their complaints
and grievances about their exploitation by the religious corporation. After lengthy
court litigation, the tenants lost their case, and Governor Valeriano Weyler, the
"Butcher of Cuba," ordered troops to expel the tenants from their ancestral farms
at gunpoint and to burn their houses. Among the victims were Rizal's father and
three sisters, who were later deported. Jose, similarly petitioned for the ruling to
reconsidered after having knowledge about it, and to topped with it is a suggestion
for reform on the taxation system that’s imposed to the Filipinos. Jose was only
dismayed by the result of his efforts. Such event also sparked his political thought
on the notion that perhaps reform is not the solution for the country, but
separation from the colonizer.

“Rizal’s participation in the propaganda can be

periodicized between his two European travels,
essentially between the writing os his two monumental
work, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. The
sequential writing of the two novels marked the
continuing evolution of Rizal’s politics. In the run up to
the final draft of Noli, Rizal publicly upheld assimilation,
the kind of front behind which he, and other nationalists,
could operate on other more radical projects but no longer
believed in it in private. But in Fili, Rizal, more hardened

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and radicalized, publicly advocated a separatist politics.”

(An analysis from Engaging Rizal, 2018).

All of these events, birthed to Rizal’s propaganda movement to open the

eyes of the Filipinos, and conceivably even the world, on the condition of the
Philippines and the Filipino people under the rule of the Spaniards in an ingenious
way.

The Propaganda Movement

`
Rise of the Propaganda Movement

 The conditions in the Philippines after 1872 worsened – the Filipino

leaders were deported to Spanish disciplinary districts and the intellectuals were
put on the trails. As the assaults done by Spanish became unstoppable, many
Filipino students gathered in different places all around the world, such as
London, Singapore and Madrid. Their established goal was to bring happiness to
their homeland and encourage social security. The campaign, called “Propaganda
Movement”, which they had created, fought aggressively, but peacefully at the
same time, with the Spanish system, by the use of words in form of speeches as
well as pieces of writing. It has begun in 1872, at the time when 3 men – Burgos,
Zamora and Gomez were killed and lasted for 24 years.

Goals of the Propaganda Movement

It was an assimilationist movement in that the propagandists—many of

whom were of half Spanish parentage and saw themselves as inheritors of Spanish
civilization—believed that the Philippines should be fully incorporated into Spain
as a Spanish province and not merely as a colony, with Filipinos granted the same
citizenship rights accorded to Spanish citizens. Second, it sought the expulsion of
the Spanish friars from the Philippines and the empowerment of a native Filipino
clergy. Lastly, as a cultural movement, it showcased the writing and artistic
production of the young Filipino elite as a means of demonstrating their
intellectual sophistication, on par with their Spanish peers.

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The Propagandists

The Propagandists, who consisted of upper-class Filipinos, created the

movement not only for the political purposes, but the most importantly for the
cultural reasons. They aimed to open Spaniard’s eyes to the needs of their country
and to bind together both countries more closely. The Propagandists were students
with a good education, an “ideal examples of Filipino manhood” – with patriotic
minds and brave souls. One of the most influential members of the Propaganda
Movement consisted of José Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Marcelo H. del Pilar of
Bulacan and many more.

              However, the most remarkable of the members is claimed to be José

Rizal – writer, ophthalmologist, scholar, and scientist. He was born in 1861 into a
Chinese family and from the beginning he shown a substantial intelligence. After
graduating from the University of Madrid, his career stretched onto two
dimensions – one was becoming a leader and a spokesperson of the society
created among Filipino students in many cities of Europe. The second one was
creating close relationships with scientists, mostly the ones from Germany. Rizal
was very interested in anthropology – he wanted to prove wrong the stereotypes
of Filipinos, which were created among many people, by presenting his scientific
arguments. However, his two novels “Noli Me Tangere” from 1886 and “El
Filibusterismo” from 1891, were the factors that influenced the Filipino evolution
of national consciousness. Even though both novels were banned, some of the
copies spread among Filipino people and gained a broad range of readers in no
time.
              The second influential Propagandists also worth mentioning is Graciano
Lopez Jaena. The journalist, after publishing his novel "Fray Botod", left for
Spain in 1880. However, while being there, he had not stopped his actions –
Lopez Jaena started to publish "La Solidaridad". This newspaper became one of

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the main organs of the Propaganda Movement and had a large number of
audiences in both Spain and the Philippines.

Weakening of the Propaganda Movement

The arrest of Rizal as well as the fall down of the Liga Filipina began the
weakening process of the Propaganda Movement. Shortly after that, in 1895, La
Solidaridad stopped to be published and Lopez Jaena died. Moreover, even
though some people tried to reestablish Liga Filipina, their actions ended in
failure.
    
 Filipinos used the Propaganda Movement as a medium in their pursuit for
independence from Spain. The whole movement began as gentle actions and
advices created by students from the Philippines, who attended universities in
Europe. Because of the fact that the level of education provided at that time in the
Philippines was low and offered mostly in Spanish (which Filipino did not know
that well), many young people followed their education path abroad. After seeing
what is happening in other countries, how free people seem to be in Europe, they
wanted to do something about the bad conditions in their homeland. This is how
the Propaganda Movement was created. The Propagandist used literature to create
change and in this way provide people with knowledge.

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APPLICATION
 At this point, it is useful to think about the kinds of
question we need to ask to develop an understanding of
Rizal’s Higher Education and Life abroad. Appropriate
questions include:

1. Explain the principle of assimilation advocated by the Propaganda Movement.

2.  Rizal was admired for being a good leader by the other propagandist. He
displayed a kind of leadership that was not motivated by personal interest but the
willingness to sacrifice oneself for the good of the majority which he described in
his novels as the national sentiment. Using your creativity, create a simple slogan
in line with the good leadership and camaraderie that Rizal has bequeathed to us.

3. In 5 sentences, explain the relationship between Rizal’s Education here and

abroad and his life as a propagandist.

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FEEDBACK

REFLECTION

Congratulations! You are progressing well with the lesson. Affirm

yourself with a bid smile as you have completed the tasks asked of you in
this lesson. Revisit once more your memory and consider the learning you
derived from the lesson. To confirm this learning, write your reflection by
supplying the information in the Exit Ticket below:
_________________ _________________ _________________
_________________ _________________ _________________
_________________ _________________ _________________
_________________ _________________ _________________
_________________ _________________ _________________
_________________ _________________ _________________
_________________ _________________ _________________
_________________ _________________ _________________

I think there is still a

need to learn more
I am certain that I about . . . . I could apply what
learned about…. I learned by….

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