Valentina's story
Valentina started high school in 2012 in the department of Canelones.
It was shortly after that she discovered she didn’t like attending high school.
“I suffered from anxiety in high school, and I didn't get along with my classmates because I suffered from bullying.”
Valentina was afraid to tell her mother, so she would go to high school but stay at the library, skipping her classes.
After being absent for a while, one of her professors threatened Valentina, saying that if she missed many classes, she would have to sit “free exams”. “There, you will have to study every topic of the syllabus, even if we don’t work on it in class. And if you pass it, you approve the subject. But it is very difficult to pass!” she said.
Little did that professor know that what she told Valentina that day would set the ground for how she would decide to traverse her educational trajectory from then onwards.
So, instead of attending classes throughout the whole year, Valentina decided to miss her classes and sit “free exams” for all of her subjects at the end of the year.
Eventually, her mother discovered the truth when, at the end of the year, she came home with a report card showing failing grades in all subjects due to her absences.
“There was a scandal at home and I became a bit depressed because I wanted to be an English teacher and I didn't know how to get there without going through high school.”
That December, she studied for a bit over a month; she sat 11 exams in one week and resat two of them in the February term.
She passed all her courses.
The following year, Valentina’s family moved to Tacuarembó, where she enrolled in a new secondary school.
She used the same strategy of not going to class and taking all her exams by the end of the year. Only this time, her mom knew.
“[My family] were very irritated that I didn't want to go to high school because for them the motto was: you have to be someone in life. And how do you become someone? By having a degree.”
“Nobody encouraged me. Everyone thought I was a lost cause.”
In 3rd grade, she did the same.
That year, at 14, she started working cleaning houses, selling food and reading in asylums.
In 4th grade, she attempted attending high school again.
“I tried really hard to fit in because I realised I had no friends. So I tried to go, and I barely got through with my grades.”
And in 5th grade, she skipped classes again and sat her exams at the end of the year.
The following year, Valentina’s life would take a new turn.
Her eldest sister was diagnosed with cancer, and she decided to move with her to Montevideo, to take care of her while she underwent treatment.
After her sister was put in hospital, Valentina struggled to give continuity to her studies in the capital city.
The following year, she attempted to study 6th grade again, but her personal situation and her sister’s illness made it difficult, and she eventually dropped out.
Today, six years later, she has two subjects left to finish high school, but she sees no point in finishing.
She became an English teacher through a private institution and is now giving classes. She lives in the department of Colonia with her partner.
This is what her educational trajectory looks like.
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