The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
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CHAPTER XIX 92<br />
trip to the capital of the province, what could I do against him, the foremost religious and political power in<br />
the town, backed up <strong>by</strong> his Order, feared <strong>by</strong> the government, rich, powerful, sought after and listened to,<br />
always believed and heeded <strong>by</strong> everybody? Although he insulted me, I had to remain silent, for if I replied he<br />
would have had me removed from my position, <strong>by</strong> which I should lose all hope in my chosen profession. Nor<br />
would the cause of education gain anything, but the opposite, for everybody would take the curate's side, they<br />
would curse me and call me presumptuous, proud, vain, a bad Christian, uncultured, and if not those things,<br />
then anti-Spanish and a filibuster. Of a schoolmaster neither learning nor zeal is expected; resignation,<br />
humility, and inaction only are asked. May God pardon me if I have gone against my conscience and my<br />
judgement, but I was born in this country, I have to live, I have a mother, so I have abandoned myself to my<br />
fate like a corpse tossed about <strong>by</strong> the waves."<br />
"Did this difficulty discourage you for all time? Have you lived so since?"<br />
"Would that it had been a warning to me! If only my troubles had been limited to that! It is true that from that<br />
time I began to dislike my profession and thought of seeking some other occupation, as my predecessor had<br />
done, because any work that is done in disgust and shame is a kind of martyrdom and because every day the<br />
school recalled the insult to my mind, causing me hours of great bitterness. But what was I to do? I could not<br />
undeceive my mother, I had to say to her that her three years of sacrifice to give me this profession now<br />
constituted my happiness. It is necessary to make her believe that this profession is most honorable, the work<br />
delightful, the way strewn with flowers, that the performance of my duties brings me only friendship, that the<br />
people respect me and show me every consideration. By doing otherwise, without ceasing to be unhappy<br />
myself, I should have caused more sorrow, which besides being useless would also be a sin. I stayed on,<br />
therefore, and tried not to feel discouraged. I tried to struggle on."<br />
Here he paused for a while, then resumed: "From the day on which I was so grossly insulted I began to<br />
examine myself and I found that I was in fact very ignorant. I applied myself day and night to the study of<br />
Spanish and whatever concerned my profession. <strong>The</strong> old Sage lent me some books, and I read and pondered<br />
over everything that I could get hold of. With the new ideas that I have been acquiring in one place and<br />
another my point of view has changed and I have seen many things under a different aspect from what they<br />
had appeared to me before. I saw error where before I had seen only truth, and truth in many things where I<br />
had formerly seen only error. Corporal punishment, for example, which from time immemorial has been the<br />
distinctive feature in the schools and which has heretofore been considered as the only efficacious means of<br />
making pupils learn--so we have been accustomed to believe--soon appeared to me to be a great hindrance<br />
rather than in any way an aid to the child's progress. I became convinced that it was impossible to use one's<br />
mind properly when blows, or similar punishment, were in prospect. Fear and terror disturb the most serene,<br />
and a child's imagination, besides being very lively, is also very impressionable. As it is on the brain that ideas<br />
are impressed, it is necessary that there be both inner and outer calm, that there be serenity of spirit, physical<br />
and moral repose, and willingness, so I thought that before everything else I should cultivate in the children<br />
confidence, assurance, and some personal pride. Moreover, I comprehended that the daily sight of floggings<br />
destroyed kindness in their hearts and deadened all sense of dignity, which is such a powerful lever in the<br />
world. At the same time it caused them to lose their sense of shame, which is a difficult thing to restore. I have<br />
also observed that when one pupil is flogged, he gets comfort from the fact that the others are treated in the<br />
same way, and that he smiles with satisfaction upon hearing the wails of the others. As for the person who<br />
does the flogging, while at first he may do it with repugnance, he soon becomes hardened to it and even takes<br />
delight in his gloomy task. <strong>The</strong> past filled me with horror, so I wanted to save the present <strong>by</strong> modifying the<br />
old system. I endeavored to make study a thing of love and joy, I wished to make the primer not a black book<br />
bathed in the tears of childhood but a friend who was going to reveal wonderful secrets, and of the<br />
schoolroom not a place of sorrows but a scene of intellectual refreshment. So, little <strong>by</strong> little, I abolished<br />
corporal punishment, taking the instruments of it entirely away from the school and replacing them with<br />
emulation and personal pride. If one was careless about his lesson, I charged it to lack of desire and never to<br />
lack of capacity. I made them think that they were more capable than they really were, which urged them on<br />
to study just as any confidence leads to notable achievements. At first it seemed that the change of method