Early Education of Jose Rizal in

Calamba and Biñan

Reported by:
Sarah V. Villanueva & Domingo Dela Rosa Jr.
Rizal had his early education in Calamba and
Biñan. It was a typical schooling that a son of
an ilustrado family received during his time,
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.
Despite the defects of the Spanish system of
elementary education, Rizal was able to acquire
the necessary instruction preparatory for
college work in Manila. It may be said that
Rizal, who was born a physical weakling, rose
to become an intellectual giant not because of,
but rather in spite of, the outmoded and
backward system of instruction obtaining in the
Philippines during the last decades of Spanish
regime.
 The Hero’s First Teacher
 The first teacher of Rizal was his mother, who was a
remarkable woman of good character and fine
culture. On her lap, he learned at the age of three the
alphabet and the prayers. "My mother," wrote Rizal
in his student memoirs, "taught me how to read and
to say haltingly the humble prayers which I raised
fervently to God."

 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
Teodora Alonso
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 one-half 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.
 That same night, Jose, with his cousin named Leandro, went
sightseeing in the town. Instead of enjoying the sights, Jose became
depressed because of homesickness. "In the moonlight," he
recounted, "I remembered my home town, my idolized mother, and
my solicitous sisters. Ah, how sweet to me was Calamba, my own
town, in spite of the fact that was not as wealthy as Biñan."
 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.

 Paciano knew the teacher quite well because he had been a

pupil under him before. He introduced Jose to the teacher,
after which he departed to return to Calamba.
 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.
 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.
 Early Schooling in Biñan
Jose had a very vivid imagination and a very keen sense
of observation. At the age of seven he traveled with his
father for the first time to Manila and thence to Antipolo
to fulfill the promise of a pilgrimage made by his mother
at the time of his birth. They embarked in a casco, a very
ponderous vessel commonly used in the Philippines. It
was the first trip on the lake that Jose could recollect. As
darkness fell he spent the hours by the katig, admiring the
grandeur of the water and the stillness of the night,
although he was seized with a superstitious fear when he
saw a water snake entwine itself around the bamboo
beams of the katig.
 With what joy did he see the sun at the daybreak as its luminous rays shone
upon the glistening surface of the wide lake, producing a brilliant effect!
With what joy did he talk to his father, for he had not uttered a word during
the night!
 When they proceeded to Antipolo, he experienced the sweetest emotions
upon seeing the gay banks of the Pasig and the towns of Cainta and Taytay.
In Antipolo he prayed, kneeling before the image of the Virgin of Peace and
Good Voyage, of whom he would later sing in elegant verses. Then he saw
Manila, the great metropolis , with its Chinese sores and European bazars.
And visited his elder sister, Saturnina, in Santa Ana, who was a boarding
student in the Concordia College.
 When he was nine years old, his father sent him to Biñan to continue
studying Latin, because his first teacher had died. His brother Paciano took
him to Biñan one Sunday, and Jose bade his parents and sisters good-bye
with tears in his eyes. Oh, how it saddened him to leave for the first time
and live far from his home and his family! But he felt ashamed to cry and
had to conceal his tears and sentiments. "O Shame," he explained, "how
many beautiful and pathetic scenes the world would witness without thee!"
 They arrived at Biñan in the evening. His brother took him to the house of his
aunt where he was to stay, and left him after introducing him to the teacher. At
night, in company with his aunt’s grandson named Leandro, Jose took a walk
around the town in the light of the moon. To him the town looked extensive
and rich but sad and ugly.
 His teacher in Biñan was a severe disciplinarian. His name was Justiniano
Aquino Cruz. "He was a tall man, lean and long-necked, with a sharp nose and
a body slightly bent forward. He used to wear a sinamay shirt woven by the
deft hands of Batangas women. He knew by memory the grammars of Nebrija
and Gainza. To this add a severity which, in my judgement I have made of
him, which is all I remember."
 The boy Jose distinguished himself in class, and succeeded in surpassing many
of his older classmates. Some of these were so wicked that, even without
reason, they accused him before the teacher, for which, in spite of his progress,
he received many whippings and strokes from the ferule. Rare was the day
when he was not stretched on the bench for a whipping or punished with five
or six blows on the open palm. Jose’s reaction to all these punishments was
one of intense resentment in order to learn and thus carry out his father’s will.
 Jose spent his leisure hours with Justiniano’s father-in-law, a master
painter. From him he took his first two sons, two nephews, and a
grandson. His way life was methodical and well regulated. He heard
mass at four if there was one that early, or studied his lesson at that hour
and went to mass afterwards. Returning home, he might look in the
orchard for a mambolo fruit to eat, then he took his breakfast, consisting
generally of a plate of rice and two dried sardines.
 After that he would go to class, from which he was dismissed at ten, then
home again. He ate with his aunt and then began at ten, then home again.
He ate with his aunt and then began to study. At half past two he returned
to class and left at five. He might play for a short time with some cousins
before returning home. He studied his lessons, drew for a while, and then
prayed and if there was a moon, his friends would invite him to play in
the street in company with other boys.
 Whenever he remembered his town, he thought with tears in his eyes of
his beloved father, his idolized mother, and his solicitous sisters. Ah, how
sweet was his town even though not so opulent as Biñan! He grew sad
and thoughtful.
While he was studying in Biñan, he returned to his
hometown now and then. How long the road seemed to
him in going and how short in coming! When from afar
he descried the roof of his house, secret joy filled his
breast. How he looked for pretexts to remain longer at
home! A day more seemed to him a day spent in heaven,
and how he wept, though silently and secretly, when he
saw the calesa that was flower that him Biñan! Then
everything looked sad; a flower that he touched, a stone
that attracted his attention he gathered, fearful that he
might not see it again upon his return. It was a sad but
delicate and quite pain that possessed him.