Chapter 3: Early Education in Calamba and Biñan

1. Where did Rizal receive his early education?

Answer: In Calamba and Biñan, Laguna.

2. What were the "Four R's" of education during the Spanish period?

Answer:

Reading

Writing

Arithmetic

Religion

3. How was education during Rizal's childhood?

Answer:

Strict and rigid

Based on memorization

Teachers often used corporal punishment (whipping).

4. Who was Rizal's first teacher?

Answer: Doña Teodora Alonso Realonda, his mother.

5. What did Rizal learn from his mother?

Answer:

Alphabet

Reading

Prayers

Love for poetry and literature

6. At what age did Rizal learn the alphabet and prayers?

Answer: Three (3) years old.

7. Why was Doña Teodora considered an excellent teacher?

Answer: She was patient, understanding, conscientious, and encouraged Rizal's imagination through stories.

8. Who were Rizal's private tutors?

Answer:

Maestro Celestino

Maestro Lucas Padua

Leon Monroy

9. What subjects did Leon Monroy teach Rizal?

Answer:

Spanish

Latin

10. Why did Rizal stop studying under Leon Monroy?

Answer: Monroy died after about five months.

11. Why was Rizal sent to Biñan?

Answer: To continue his education in a private school.

12. When did Rizal leave for Biñan?

Answer: June 1869.

13. Who accompanied Rizal to Biñan?

Answer: His older brother Paciano.

14. Where did Rizal stay in Biñan?

Answer: At his aunt's house.

15. How did Rizal feel on his first night in Biñan?

Answer: He became homesick and missed his family and Calamba.

16. Who was Rizal's teacher in Biñan?

Answer: Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz.

17. What kind of teacher was Maestro Justiniano?

Answer: He was strict, intelligent, and severe.

18. What questions did Maestro Justiniano ask Rizal on his first day?

Answer:

"Do you know Spanish?"

"Do you know Latin?"

19. Who laughed at Rizal's answers?

Answer: Pedro, the teacher's son, and some classmates.

20. Who was Rizal's first school bully?

Answer: Pedro, the teacher's son.

21. What happened in Rizal's first school fight?

Answer: Rizal defeated Pedro in a wrestling match.

22. Why was Rizal able to defeat Pedro?

Answer: Because Tio Manuel had taught him wrestling.

23. Who defeated Rizal in arm wrestling?

Answer: Andres Salandanan.

24. Was Rizal quarrelsome?

Answer: No. He avoided trouble but never ran away from a fight.

25. Who taught Rizal painting in Biñan?

Answer: Juancho, an old painter and the father-in-law of Maestro Justiniano.

26. What did Juancho think of Rizal?

Answer: He admired Rizal's artistic talent.

27. Describe Rizal's daily routine in Biñan.

Answer:

Woke up early

Attended Mass

Ate a simple breakfast

Went to school

Studied

Drew pictures

Prayed

Played during moonlit nights

Slept after supper

28. How did Rizal perform in school?

Answer: He became the best student in his class.

29. Which subjects did Rizal excel in?

Answer:

Spanish

Latin

Other academic subjects

30. Why did some classmates become jealous of Rizal?

Answer: Because of his academic excellence.

31. Why was Rizal often punished?

Answer: Some classmates falsely reported him to the teacher after fights.

32. When did Rizal leave Biñan?

Answer: December 17, 1870.

33. How long did Rizal study in Biñan?

Answer: About 1½ years.

34. What was the name of the steamer Rizal rode home?

Answer: Talim.

35. Who looked after Rizal during the trip home?

Answer: Arturo Camps, a Frenchman and friend of his father.

Martyrdom of GOMBURZA

36. What happened on January 20, 1872?

Answer: The Cavite Mutiny began.

37. Who led the Cavite Mutiny?

.

Answer: Sergeant Lamadrid

38. Why did the Cavite Mutiny happen?

Answer: Because workers lost privileges such as:

Tax exemption

Polo (forced labor) exemption

39. Who were GOMBURZA?

Answer:

Mariano Gomez

Jose Burgos

Jacinto Zamora

40. When were GOMBURZA executed?

Answer: February 17, 1872.

41. Who ordered their execution?

Answer: Governor-General Rafael de Izquierdo.

42. Why were GOMBURZA executed?

Answer: They were falsely accused of supporting the Cavite Mutiny.

43. How did Paciano react to Burgos' execution?

Answer: He left school and returned to Calamba.

44. How did GOMBURZA influence Rizal?

Answer: Their martyrdom inspired him to fight Spanish oppression and dedicate his life to the country.

45. Which novel did Rizal dedicate to GOMBURZA?

Answer: El Filibusterismo (1891).

Imprisonment of Doña Teodora

46. What tragedy happened to Rizal's mother?

Answer: She was wrongfully imprisoned.

47. Why was Doña Teodora arrested?

Answer: She was falsely accused of trying to poison her brother Jose Alberto's wife.

48. Who filed the false accusation?

Answer: Jose Alberto's unfaithful wife, with the help of a Spanish lieutenant.

49. Why did the Spanish lieutenant hate the Rizal family?

Answer: Don Francisco refused to provide fodder for his horse.

50. Who helped arrest Doña Teodora?

Answer: Gobernadorcillo Antonio Vivencio del Rosario.

51. How far was Doña Teodora forced to walk after her arrest?

Answer: About 50 kilometers, from Calamba to Santa Cruz.

52. How long was Doña Teodora imprisoned?

Answer: 2½ years.

53. Who defended Doña Teodora?

Answer:

Francisco de Marcaida

Manuel Marzan

54. What was the final verdict?

Answer: She was acquitted and declared innocent.