Lesson 7
GLORIOUS STUDENT'S LIFE STARTS AT ATENEO DE MUNICIPAL
Jose Rizal had his Bachiller en Artes at the school of the Jesuits. This religious
order loved Jose so much, in fact in 1892 when he was exiled in Dapitan, the real
sentence tor him was execution but because of the Jesuits he was just exiled. In Ateneo,
he excelled in academics, in extracurricular and vocational education.
Jose P. Rizal was again accompanied by his brother Paciano to Ateneo Municipal.
He was introduced to Father Minister Magin Ferrando and at first, the Father Minister
did not want to accept him because of his weak constitution and short stature. However,
with the help of Manuel Jerez, the nephew of late Father. Burgos, the eleven-year-old
Jose Rizal was accepted in Ateneo Municipal. At first, he was overwhelmed to see
students from different classes, he saw a great number of Spaniards, mestizos and
Filipinos. In his stay in Ateneo, he needed to change his name to Rizal instead of
Mercado to avoid being associated with Father Burgos. He was included in the class of a
Jesuit priest, Father Jose Bech and according to Rizal, he was a tall man, thin, with body
bent forward, with hasty pace, an ascetic, severe and inspired physiognomy, sunken,
small eyes and fine lips. He was able to meet some of his classmates in Biñan.
SUCCESS IN ATENEO DE MUNICIPAL
The teachers in Ateneo encouraged their students to study harder with the use of
competition. The class was divided into two groups, the Carthaginian (the non-boarder
of Ateneo) and the Roman (the boarder inside Ateneo). The two groups competed in all
class discussion and each member could challenge the other members of the group, the
opponent who would commit three mistakes in the questions about the lesson would
lose his position. The best student in each group was called as the Emperor, the second
best was the Tribune, the third best was the Decurion, the fourth best was the Centurion
and the fifth best was the Standard Bearer (Zaide, 1994). In the first quarter of his stay in
Ateneo, he already achieved the title as Emperor. The challenge of competition had a
positive effect to the academic status of Jose P. Rizal and this was evident in his
scholastic records.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AT ATENEO
Aside from the academics, Jose also engaged into various extra-curricular
activities like he was part of the literary group under the guidance of Fr. Sanchez, Mary,
Virgin a member of a Marian Congregation who were devoted to Virgin Mary a member
of the club of Natural Sciences. He also continued his painting lessons under Agustin
Saez, and he also studied sculpture under the guidance of Romualdo de Jesus.
His literary skills were also sharpened because of his passion in reading. During
his Ateneo days, he was able to read and understand complicated novels like The Count
of Monte Cristo written by Alexander Dumas. He also read books in different areas, he
asked his father to buy the expensive historical book of Cesar Cantu entitled, Universal
History and he also became fascinated by the work of Dr. Feodor Jagor entitled, Travels
in the Philippines.
LITERARY WORKS OF JOSE RIZAL IN ATENEO
Along with his success in academics, he also had various achievements in writing
poems, essays and drama in Ateneo. The first poem that he wrote in Ateneo was for his
mother entitled "My First Inspiration." In 1876, he wrote poems about the importance of
education for the development of a country entitled "Through Education the Country
Receives Light" and connection between Education and Religion entitled "Intimate
Alliance Between Religion and Good Education." Aside from poems and essays, he also
ventured in writing manuscripts for play. In June 1876, he handed to Fr. Sanchez the
manuscript entitled "St. Eustache, the Martyr."
THE RELEASE OF HIS MOTHER FROM PRISON
Jose's success in Ateneo was not complete because he still longed for Justice for
his mother who was imprisoned because of the wrong accusation of her sister-in-law
Teodora Herbosa that Teodora Alonzo attempted to poison her. During his summer
break, Jose visited her mother in prison and cheered her up by citing his academic
excellence in Ateneo. In his summer break, after his second year in Ateneo, her mother
told him about her dream and Jose interpreted it as a sign that after three months, she
would be released from prison and Rizal's prophecy came true. The reason why his
mother was released from prison was the request of his sister Soledad to the Governor
General after the latter appreciated her talent in dancing.
COLLEGE LIFE IN UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTO TOMAS
At the end of education of Jose Rizal in Ateneo, he was able to gain the highest
award as the emperor of his class and the title of Bachiller en Artes. He wanted to
pursue his higher education inspite of the disapproval of his mother who thought that
the higher education would lead to Rizal's disadvantage. He entered the university as a
student of Philosophy and Letter. He was not sure of the course that he would pursue in
college so he sought the advice of his former teacher in Ateneo, Fr. Ramon but because
the latter was in Mindanao his teacher was not able to reply to his question
immediately. Following the course of his father, he took Philosophy and Letters from
1877-1878 and in 1878 he shifted to Medicine course because he considered the
situation of his mother who had failing eyesight.
His life in Ateneo as a student was different from UST maybe because in Ateneo
his teachers monitored the students closely since it was considered a school for
secondary education while in UST the students were free to do their other activities. The
students were only required to attend their classes for three hours and they were free to
do their other things for the rest of the time. so even if he was enrolled in UST he spent
his other time in going back to Ateneo to continue his extra-curricular activities and in
1877-1878 he used his spare time in UST to study a vocational course. In Ateneo, he
studied surveying course and gained the title of Perito Agrimensor.
His brilliance in Philosophy was evident in his grades that he attained in his
Philosophy course in UST and during those time this course was considered as the
preparatory course of Theology and Law.
In 1887, he shifted from Philosophy to Medicine. During this time, he had 23
classmates in Medicine consisted of three peninsulares, three peninsulares and the
others were natives. Among the 24 students, 22 of them finished the course and Rizal
was part of the four students who gained the mark of Aprovechado.
Some of the historians who ventured in the life of Jose Rizal commented that Rizal
had lower grades in UST than when he studied in Ateneo and they attributed his low
grades to the discrimination that he experienced in UST. However, according to Villaroel
and De Viana, Jose Rizal was not discriminated in UST because first among other
students, he was able to get higher grades. Second the story of Placido Pinetente in
Physics class did not happen in UST because personally Rizal took Ampliacion so he did
not take Physics in UST, third, the reason why Rizal got lower grades in UST was the
different distraction that he experienced while studying in UST like his love life and
group that he established (Compadrenismo).
THE LITERARY TRIUMPH OF RIZAL IN UST
In April 1880, Jose joined the competition which Commemoratedi the 400th death
anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes. He wrote a play entitled, El Consejo de los Dioses, a
play which recognized Cervantes as equal to Homer and Virgil and even if the jury was
composed of Spaniards, they awarded Rizal the highest prize. Rizal's triumph on the said
literary award was contested by the Spaniards who could not accept that the winner
came from the natives but the judges stood by their decision and on the time of the
awarding the crowd which was composed of the Spaniards did not applaud Rizal.
Like in Ateneo, Jose Rizal also had various literary works in UST. In 1879, Rizal
joined the Liceo Artistico-Literario of Manila and won the competition. He wrote the "La
Juventud Filipina" (To the Filipino Youth), this poem encouraged and inspired the Filipino
youth to stand up and work harder to attain the highest objectives.
