Julieta's story
Julieta started attending high school in 2011 in the department of Canelones, where she lived with her mother, younger brother, and stepfather.
Both that year and in 2nd grade, she passed with an average of 7 out of 12.
In 3rd grade, things started to get a bit more complicated when her mother was in the process of getting divorced from her stepfather.
“I took on a lot of responsibilities, [I took care] of my brother, and I was absent [from high school] a lot”
The year came to an end, and in December, Julieta went to high school, to sit her Math exam.
“I went to the Math exam, having studied everything to take it, and [the teacher] told me, ‘But Julieta, you repeated the grade’, and I was like: ‘What?!’”
When report cards had more than three failing grades, parents had to go to the institution to pick them up. But Julieta’s mother didn’t go.
“My mother would never go to pick up [the report cards], so I didn't really know what my average was in the subjects or anything, and I didn't even know how many I had failed. The teachers would tell me some things, or I would look at the midterms and what grades I got, but that was it.”
So, the following year, Julieta repeated 3rd grade.
“It really affected me to be there with younger classmates.”
But, nevertheless, she took it upon herself to make an effort, so she wouldn’t have to go through the same situation again.
“I started sitting in the front of the class, paying more attention and taking more notes. I became more concerned about my grades. My personal interest changed, because I didn’t want to repeat again.”
She remembered some of the contents from the previous year, so she felt repeating was useful to reinforce the knowledge, and that year, she passed with an average of 9.
The following year, in 2015, she changed schools, to one that taught upper secondary.
That year, she did even better and ended with an average of 11.
“I can clearly remember my excitement when they gave me the report card and I had an average of 11. It was the first 11 I had and I was so excited. Because it also said “Congratulations” marked with yellow highlighter. I think that was the moment when I felt the proudest because it had cost me so much to be able to achieve that. It had been a torment to have repeated…”
In 5th grade, Julieta moved out from her mom’s house and with her father.
She received support from staff at her high school to be able to tell her mother that she wanted to move in with her father because she was witnessing violence at home.
“The [high school’s] psychologist and social worker helped me to be able to talk to my mother to tell her that I wanted to move in with my father. And they followed up over time”
In 2017, Julieta finished high school.
Today, at 25, she is studying psychopedagogy at university, and working at a store at the shopping centre.
This is what her educational trajectory looks like.
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