The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home

CHAPTER XIX 94
among them a change of curates, so I took new hope and made another attempt to the end that the children
should not lose all their time and should, in so far as possible, get some benefit from the floggings, that such
things might at least have some good result for them. I pondered over the matter, as I wished that even if they
could not love me, by getting something useful from me, they might remember me with less bitterness. You
know that in nearly all the schools the books are in Spanish, with the exception of the catechism in Tagalog,
which varies according to the religious order to which the curate belongs. These books are generally novenas,
canticles, and the Catechism of Padre Astete, [65] from which they learn about as much piety as they would
from the books of heretics. Seeing the impossibility of teaching the pupils in Spanish or of translating so many
books, I tried to substitute short passages from useful works in Tagalog, such as the Treatise on Manners by
Hortensio y Feliza, some manuals of Agriculture, and so forth. Sometimes I would myself translate simple
works, such as Padre Barranera's History of the Philippines, which I then dictated to the children, with at
times a few observations of my own, so that they might make note-books. As I had no maps for teaching
geography, I copied one of the province that I saw at the capital and with this and the tiles of the floor I gave
them some idea of the country. This time it was the women who got excited. The men contented themselves
with smiling, as they saw in it only one of my vagaries. The new curate sent for me, and while he did not
reprimand me, yet he said that I should first take care of religion, that before learning such things the children
must pass an examination to show that they had memorized the mysteries, the canticles, and the catechism of
Christian Doctrine.
"So then, I am now working to the end that the children become changed into parrots and know by heart so
many things of which they do not understand a single word. Many of them now know the mysteries and the
canticles, but I fear that my efforts will come to grief with the Catechism of Padre Astete, since the greater
part of the pupils do not distinguish between the questions and the answers, nor do they understand what
either may mean. Thus we shall die, thus those unborn will do, while in Europe they will talk of progress."
"Let's not be so pessimistic," said Ibarra. "The teniente-mayor has sent me an invitation to attend a meeting in
the town hall. Who knows but that there you may find an answer to your questions?"
The schoolmaster shook his head in doubt as he answered: "You'll see how the plan of which they talked to
me meets the same fate as mine has. But yet, let us see!"