What is Jose Rizal?
{{no sources|date=December 2018}} [[File:Dr Jose Rizal.jpg|thumb|Dr. José Rizal in 1884]] [[File:Jose Rizal autograph.svg|thumb|Rizal's signature]] {{Commonscat|José Rizal}} '''José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda''' is a National hero of the [[Philippines]]. He was an activist, writer, a polymath and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement which advocated for changes in the colony under the Spanish rule. He was born on June 19, 1861 in the town of [[Calamba |Calamba]], [[Laguna (province)|Laguna]]. == Family and early life == He was the seventh child in a family of 11 children (2 boys and 9 girls). His parents went to school and were well known. His father, Francisco Rizal Mercado, worked hard as a farmer in [[Biñan]], Laguna. Rizal looked up to him. His mother, Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos, was born in [[Meisic]], [[Sta. Cruz]], [[Manila]]. She read a lot and knew about art and many other things. Rizal said she was loving and very smart. He [[learn]]ed the [[alphabet]] from his mother when he was three years old. At age five, while learning to [[read]] and [[write]], he also showed that he could draw and paint. He surprised his family and [[Kinship|relatives]] with his [[pencil]] [[drawing]]s and [[sketch]]es and with his [[molding]]s of [[clay]]. == Education == In 1877, at the age of 16, he finished school ([[Bachelor of Arts]]) from the [[Ateneo de Manila University|Ateneo Municipal de Manila]]. In the same year, he went to another school to study [[Philosophy]] and [[Letters]] at the [[University of Santo Tomas]]. At the same time, he took classes to become a [[surveyor]] and [[assessor]] at the Ateneo. In 1878, he went to the University of Santo Tomas to become a doctor. He stopped in his [[Education|studies]] when he felt that the [[Filipinos|Filipino]] students were not being treated right by the [[priests]] who were also their teachers. On May 3, 1882, he went by boat to [[Spain]]. In Spain, he continued his studies at the [[Universidad Central de Madrid]]. On June 21, 1884, at