Chardón received his primary and secondary education in his hometown. In 1915 he began his studies in agriculture at the College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts in Mayagüez. Chardón went to the United States to continue his college education at Cornell University in New York State after Mayagüez was struck by an earthquake in 1918. It did considerable damage to the university and the city, damaging hundreds of masonry and wooden buildings, both commercial and residential.