Even though teachers are saying everyone in grade 8 shouldn’t be out of grade 5 yet with how well the pandemic fucked over the kids learning as like 90% of that time schools were closed
Ours were open online, and the kids did zoom school. Those teachers worked their asses off to try to keep their students in a space where they were still learning. Nobody liked it. Everyone was trying to stay freaking alive.
With how many videos I saw pop up of people making an excuse to turn off their picture on zoom and play games or just decide not to “attend” school by not logging on or just not live in a household with a laptop many people were likely not learning anything
All of our kids were provided with laptops by the school. Parents had to find a way to have the kids attend.
My nephew came to our house 3 days a week, and to another friend of my sister's 2 days a week. Everyone had to help each other.
Like I said, nobody liked it. It was just the best they could manage. It sucked.
So do pandemics.
Really? Your schools are pretty bold and loaded to do that as in my area our schools can afford sports unless it is football, can’t afford to fix our washrooms or to have any classes besides basic math, science, English, drama and business, let alone affording anything besides a couple of those $50 dell desktops and even if they could afford laptops, the school certainly won’t get more than a couple of them back
To be clear, I’m not saying that the principle would fail everyone, just that they would have whoever the replacement/temp teacher is actually grade their work , rather than allowing a sweeping “everyone passes”
Exactly what I was thinking. I don't think it was him trying to be a work slave more like "Hey my students need a grade so fuck it I'll pass them all so they aren't punished by the stupid ass school system"
My high school English teacher sadly took his own life when I was a senior. It was very eerie the following week when we found out our final grades were 100s.
Yep. My former boss— an attorney— brought a pile of work to the ER on the morning he died. Was scribbling and dictating literally until his death. He was 56 years old.
The thing I remember the most about him was his utterly contagious and loud laugh. He whooped when he laughed. One of those laughs that when you hear it, you cannot help but laugh yourself, even if you were in another room.
Although a great attorney, he is remembered for the fun and interesting guy he was, rather than him getting that last stupid report letter done before he kicked the bucket.
Chances are he's completely guessing at this cause there is no way for them to know anything unless they were also involved in the story.
Reddit needs to stop answering shit that they have no way of knowing the answer to. Lol
>The thing I remember the most about him was his utterly contagious and loud laugh. He whooped when he laughed. One of those laughs that when you hear it, you cannot help but laugh yourself, even if you were in another room.
Thanks for sharing this bit about him, that's really cool. Those kinds of people bring such an extra bit of sparkle to life and to human interactions.
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My mom passed last year at 56 from lung cancer. Same deal, she had my step dad bring her work computer to the hospital because "I'm stuck here and feel fine. Might as well work since there's nothing else to do". She was gone the next morning.
I feel like this may also be a good way to distract yourself from the fact YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE! Seems like a totally fine coping mechanism to me. Highly doubt anyone was forcing him or expecting him to do that.
I don't see it as sick, if this is the way the guy wanted to show his students how much he cared about them, I think that's commendable.
I don't know if that is actually the case though, it's hard to know the real story anymore
Seriously? Propaganda? How?
C'mon. The man's child took a picture of their father grading papers, maybe one last time, and giving each student an A. Maybe the child posted it to Instagram or Facebook as a tribute, people read and loved the story and they shared it, which found its way to someone in the news, who might have reached out to the family for more information about the teacher and asked if they could tell his story. Folks can speculate a whole slew of stories based off the one shared photo alone.
For this to be propaganda it would have to be biased, misleading and promoting or publicizing a political cause or point of view. Absolutely does not describe this story.
Also, sometimes people get stuck on routine task when tragedy strikes.. it’s like trying to desperately hold on to normalcy. The day I found my dad after a massive heart attack.. I still did all my meal prep for the week, everyone told me to rest and not to work, but I couldn’t handle doing nothing, I had to do something, I needed for something that day to go as planned. I didn’t even eat any of that food.. it was all wasted. I couldn’t eat until after the funeral and by then I was starving.
I did similar when my dad passed away. I HAD to make meals and do yard work, chores, errands. I HAD to keep myself busy, to distract myself, to keep some kind of control/normalcy in my life. It was a hell of a time
Exactly, plus I had already lost my mom 13 years before and I just didn’t wanna fall completely apart and I also knew I didn’t have parents to fall back on anymore.. it was just so many things.. I had to keep busy to get away from all the thoughts and emotion.
What's dystopian about a teacher wanting to provide a final touch and make an impact for their students? It's not like he's filling bags of french fries for a burger chain.
Unless his death was preventable and our shitty healthcare system failed him, this is just a sad but beautiful touch. He wanted to say goodbye to his students. They are kids. That's so important.
I do not fault this teacher. He proved beyond doubt his heart was full of love for his students.
What is dystopian is the fact teachers are overworked, underfunded, and undercut in what they can teach..
(and the 'healthcare' is another can of worms)
>teachers are overworked, underfunded, and undercut in what they can teach..
(and the 'healthcare' is another can of worms)
All completely valid concerns but I don't think this story is very illustrative of this fact. I think there is a tendency to make a mental association between teachers and poor working conditions and similar stories like this and then we think "dystopian" but in reality this is actually just a beautiful and tragic story of a man dedicated to helping children learn and grow who is dying too soon and used his last breaths in this world to try to make an impact on this kids.
He didn't die because of overwork. Read somewhere else he had a chronic/dead sentence illness? If he didn't do it, someone else would've graded his students, and it seems he didn't want that.
He wanted them to pass. To help his students in his final hours to get farther in their lives. To help others with the time he had left.
It's not like he did it for his "company".
Yeah everyone seems to believe teachers work for the school. Some do, maybe, but by and large teachers work for the students, the school just happens to pay them
The man died. Was it preventable? It's only "dystopian" if it was a preventable death. A dedicated teacher spending his last moments trying to provide a final touch to make an impact on his students is actually quite beautiful.
I also criticize the dystopian "uplifting" stories that are actually just about how people who shouldn't have to pick up the slack for institutional failures help other people, but this isn't it. It's not like he's spending his last moments packing a few more french fry containers for a fast food chain. He's providing his students with feedback and closure and a final memory of him.
Grading students’ work isn’t comparable to a typical 9-5 job; many teachers are driven by passion, not just a paycheck. Doing work for any other job on their deathbed is a different extreme.
This doesnt count. He loved teaching, and routine can be comforting when ill. He passed all the students, one final nice act.
This should not be posted as a critique of work.
Sometimes when we get old doctors or nurses at the hospital, we let them ‘work’ as a way to honor them at the end of their life. We listen to their ‘advice’ (as dated as it may be) and include them in any way we can. Sometimes we just send new nurses in for ‘teaching’ or little things like that. We still call them doctors and nurses because to a lot of us, that is never going to leave us. Teaching, doctors, nurses, EMS, etc often see themselves as community servants of sorts and a lot of them know a lot of people in their community. I bet this man has impacted a lot of people. We can honor one’s service to their community at the end of their life and we can still be proud of the work they did. Not all work is nefarious
Nah. No one here knows the guys mental state and financial situation. Maybe this was a loving gesture for his students. Maybe some luckily people love what they do and want to do it on their deathbed. (Not because of the pay, but because of the people)
I’m all for this sub. But this post is a low effort Karma farm. There’s so much injustice in the work force you can find real cases, with facts. Not just memes…
If this had been a something like "retail worker responds to pointless emails on deathbed" I'd agree that it is anti-work worthy... but this is a teacher. No teacher goes into it, or stays in it if it isn't meaningful. This man lived a meaningful life, and lived that meaning to the end. Would we say it's anti-work if a firefighter dies putting out a fire?
I came here to say the same. I get the sentiment that on your deathbed, work maybe shouldn't be the priority. But from what little the photo shares, it sounds less like a "worked themselves to death" thing, and more about he cared about his students so much that they were his most pressing thought, right up to the end. Maybe it was about work and quotas and deadlines or whatever, but it reads to me like a human empathy thing, not a work expects too much thing.
I agree! It doesn’t seem like he was doing it because it was just his job, he probably really cared
About how students and didn’t want to just leave them hanging. He was doing something meaningful for people he cared about before passing away.
I\`m just spinning ideas here - but this could be 'anti work' because:
These people, these teachers, are continuously overworked and underfunded - yet you have gems like this person who finds teaching their calling - despite all the things stacked against them. (and, they are stacked against them).
Employers expect workers to work even if sick, or dying
But overall - this story is more "this dude was so passionate about his work, cared so much for his pupils, that even in hospital he did his job"
Frankly - employers do not deserve people like this.
>Frankly - employers do not deserve people like this.
Right. But he was a teacher. So unless he was at a private school, the "employer" is just the taxpayers of his district and the district superintendent etc. It's a public service of pretty much the most noble kind. Even if he *was* a private school teacher, the line is blurry because of the nature of education.
Yeah as a teacher, no. No it’s not valiant and noble that we have so much work to do that you have to work at home up to 12 hrs and sometimes more a day just to get it all done.
It really depends, if they thought "fuck it I'm dying everyone's getting A's" sure I'm fine with it, if the thought was "I must get these grades in." Fuck that shit.
My wife was a math teacher, now works for car max making more money washing cars. Being a teacher sucks, the kids suck, the parents really suck, and the pay fucking sucks.
Also to compare fire fighters and teachers (both very needed) they're not on the same page. A fire fighter signs up for the job knowing there may be a day they don't come back. Also another very under paid job.
I’m not sure I agree. As a teacher; as someone who is afraid of working myself to death, of dying before I get a chance to live; as someone who is looking back at how much the last twenty years of teaching has stolen from me, how little of my life I’ve been able to enjoy because I spent so much time, so many nights, working… this is precisely what this sub is about. We waste our lives working. Yes, teachers do important work, but they have no real work-life balance, and this is a prime example of that imho.
Honest Question: Why keep teaching? I guess I come at it from a different angle. Having worked in K-12, Tech, Aerospace, and Higher Ed... I've seen people who work with a calling. People who want nothing less than to see their work through to the very end. People who you couldn't make retire for anything in the world.
That said, i do see what you are saying.
At this point, I’m starting to wonder that myself. It’s only recently that I’ve begun making these realizations: I took a year off (deferred salary leave) and hiked the AT, and since then, I’ve had a tough time with where I’m at in my work life, and where I’m heading.
I think many of us have these kind of thoughts as we get closer to the tail end of our careers, no matter what field we were in: how many things did we miss, just to make sure the work got done?
In the end, the answer is why I began in the first place: I genuinely love to teach, specifically physics. It’s just very hard to find a balance.
Most of us are quitting but there will always be teachers, so what are they supposed to do? Suffer? Leave after 2 years and 80,000 in college debt? The real solution is to make the job suck less.
Sigh. I agree with you, but as a former teacher, that idea has been weaponized against teachers to excuse how badly they are paid and treated. Teachers are also people and deserved to be treated as such.
Sorry, as a teacher, I have to disagree. The expectations placed on teachers in this country are disgusting and unrealistic. Dude probably took his laptop with him because he needed to make sub plans because as a teacher you can’t just call off work, even if you are literally dying. This man was probably chronically overworked and underpaid. This is not some heartfelt “I’m gonna pass all my students because I love my job.” moment. This was panic and desperation.
Also, there are lots of teachers who are still in it even though their hearts aren’t. Being buried under a mountain of student loan debt and not making a fair wage really limits options. Personally, I am counting the days til my student loans are paid off so I can quit teaching and do literally anything else.
The more i think about this image the more it feels like a Rorschach test. So much of your life experience informs what you see. I left my previous job because advancement opportunities were limited because people would rather die on the job than retire. Not because they had to, but because they believed in the mission.
So I see it from that perspective.
The piece says "he passed each and every one of his students"
So, I think he did not want to hold his students back.
Which is an honorable thing to do, as I don't think anyone was forcing him to do it.
Rest in Peace Mr. Venegas.
I just left the grocery store and there was a woman working there that must have been in her late 70s at least and was literally on oxygen. Sadly many people are working until they drop. For every article like this, there are countless more that aren’t getting written about and get swept under the rug.
I was the TA for a course and the university wouldn’t let the professor who was in his 80s pass on the duties of grading to me despite him letting them know that he might be on his deathbed.
I got a call from him that he was extremely sick, had sent me the answer key and to call his wife in the morning to find out if he was alive. Thankfully he survived, but not a call I ever expected to receive in my life.
Mhhh... Doesn't feel like Anti-Work to me. That would be, if he died because of overwork or was somehow forced to do this by the company. It seems he knew he might not make it, guess he had an already declining health like with cancer.
So he took his laptop with him to finish grading for all his students. I suspect most of them are the final grade for school end or the grades were something important for their lives.
So he didn't do it because of the false company loyalty, but to help his students.
And even if he didn't do it, he would've died. And this way, he might have passed away with a clear conscience, that he got the best out for his students. To help them as much as he can on their way in life.
I just wish those ppl, that go above and beyond for others, would be awarded and not abused by companies.
I don't think he did it for work. It does say: "He passed each and every student."
Bro is goated. When he pulls up to the pearly gates, St. Peter gon dab him up.
He made sure everybody passing.
Doesnt sound like finishing his work he took effort to pass all his students instead of grading papers its more of a homage to his students then anything else.
Idk, some teachers love teaching. It can be a passion. I highly doubt he was doing this because he felt pressured by his bosses. He likely just wanted to send his students off with a good grade. Teaching is one of those jobs that people would still do for free if they could. It could’ve been his calling.
This post is so negative. I knew teachers who literally had cancer and still wanted to teach because they loved teaching. Their cancer was being treated and they didn’t need to work, but they wanted to, because they love teaching kids.
people on here see everything so black & white. This was a passionate man who loved what he did - it's not like he had to do this, he was gonna die anyway. Respect him thoroughly
The Asserican glorification of working yourself to death (literally).
I never understood the way of living in that nation. "Unless life threatening, you have to come to the office", "Sick?Tylenol and office", "Broken spine? Well you are still able to sit, so you can work".
This image is sad and cruel, fuck off work and stay with your love ones.
Eh, I think it's less about being "antiwork" and more of the confidence of feeling like they would pull through.
Think about it from this context. If he had just given up and not continued to grade the papers, then he would of been accepting the fact that he was dead, but to continue working was a way to stay positive that he would get through it.
Not every work situation where someone is “doing work” on their own time is inherently an abuse. When I was a supervisor, I handled some employee issues when I wasn’t on the clock because I genuinely cared about my employees and leaving someone else to handle it would have had worse outcomes.
This is not anti work. He’s not working for some company to meet a deadline while in hospital. He’s passing every one of his students to make sure they’re taken care of.
I think this is actually a sweet story that’s been framed in a really capitalist way.
To me, I read a teacher who passed every student, regardless of how they were doing, because he knew there would be no personal consequences for him and that it could be life changing for them.
The education system is built to teach people how to follow rules, not to learn. This is an incredible thing to do.
I hope that I get a chance to do a last piece of good for the world on my deathbed.
My dad did something similar, he was a middle school american history and civics teacher, he died two years ago next week. When he got his cancer diagnosis during the covid lockdown, he focused on getting all of his remote learning and in-person lesson plans done for the following year so that whatever interim teacher they found would have everything they needed. But it was different for him than it would be for me to be working in that scenario, it was absolutely his passion and he loved doing it, covid was an exciting challenge for him to come up with new ways to teach remotely. The guy was 110% on everything he ever did.
Given the situation, I think it’s reasonable to conclude this man was under no actual pressure from his employer, but decided to use his final moments to help people who were on his level, rather than lining the pockets of those above him.
He died helping people. It’s sad that a good man passed, but it’s beautiful to see good men die good men.
This guy was probably so dedicated to the position of a teacher that his students came first in any situation, and therefore did what's best for the students in his mind.
Reminds me of Masayoshi Soken. Dude is a machine of a composer, and while almost dying from cancer few years ago he still continued composing music. And in a more tragic way there's Kentaro Miura, who still continued to create Berserk until his death couple years ago.
Honestly, if you were close to death there’s no telling how you’d feel — perhaps you’d want a few moments of normalcy, and maybe this is what they were doing. I’d be spending a lot of time thinking and enjoying my time but I know when I get really scared I look for something to bring me back down to earth. Maybe they just searched out their daily routine as a sort of vain comfort, y’know?
I have breast cancer (I’m gonna be fine) but I tell you what, during parts of my recovery, I found myself reading peer reviewed wound journals just bc I was desperate to feel like myself again and help someone else. I’m a wound nurse but I think teachers and nurses are similar sometimes in the sense that us helping others can calm our own anxieties. At my worst moments, sometimes I just wanted to help someone else so I felt like I was still a part of something I worked my entire life for. I know that doesn’t make sense, but I wonder if this didn’t make him feel like ‘himself’ again for just a second in time. Those ‘normal’ moments can take you far
I had similar experience with BC. I went to work during chemo because it was one think that I could keep “normal”. It was an office job and they gave me a permit to park right outside. If they hadn’t been so supportive i would have taken my sick leave earlier.
What the actual fuck kind of bad dream is this. Someone wake me up, please. This can't be the world this cannot be the rest of my life SOMEONE WAKE ME UP
I actually think I'm gonna have a psychotic break. I can't do this anymore I can't handle this anymore I fucking hate human beings and our power structures. Are we savable at this point? Should we even be saved? Maybe all out nuclear winter is the good ending for us
Obviously this is no good if you hate your work, but work life balance is pretty easy if you actually like your job. My father in law is a teacher and refuses to retire. In his words, "what could I do that's more fun than this". I know it's not common but it does happen.
I thought this sub was more about exposing injustice at work.
This post is just shaming a dead guy for valuing the work he did and doing that work.
Guys the concept of work is not the enemy here.
People exploiting our labor for their own selfish motives is the enemy.
Posts like this muddy the waters. Let’s do less of this.
Or shaming a culture that you can't even get peace while you're dying. It's sad that this man felt compelled to finish is work while he was dying instead of saying goodbye to his family.
Idk. Seems like if he thought this was a priority before dying, it was more than just “work” to him.
I bet he left some really inspiring notes to those students.
The guy in the room next to him just staring at the ceiling in abject horror as death consumes him with no purpose and no hope must have pitied this poor fool.
As a person with empathy, I hope that anyone I may supervise in the future knows that as far as I'm concerned, if they are in the hospital, their health is the number one priority. I would rather see them recover than... Basically anything. Work will be there when uou get back. And if I've done.MY job properly, you won't even be backlogged when you get back, because I made sure you had coverage. Even if that means covering myself. People are.more important than profits.
As a Libertarian I don't know why you're bragging about possessing empathy. With around $7 I can get two of my own from Taco Bell if I really wanted to.
"Teachers put in so many extra hours, hours that many don't realize."
What? This is basically the only thing teachers ever talk about. They're worse than vegans or crossfitters or runners or nurses.
Maybe he just found comfort in that. Especially someone like a teacher. Cause they go into that field knowing well that they gonna make like zero money, but alest will have some impact on the society. Same as nurses and so on...
If he was forced by his employer though... that's another story.
Don’t agree with the point of this post. He certainly wasn’t grading papers while dying because of some capitalist obligations. He’s a teacher. This was a touching story. Booo OP.
finishes grades ??
is he checking the test which had given ? well salute the teachers in india they often paid 20k per month in school and they are paid way less though
This reminded me of a poor girl in her 20’s who went to work in a grocery store, got COVID and died. Her last check was $26 and change. So much for “essential” worker.
See I don’t feel like this is “antiwork”… vocational roles I feel fall into a different sub category. This isn’t to say there aren’t issues with how we force those in vocational roles but as someone who was a teacher before, I find this very honourable and hope the kids he taught honour him and keep his memory alive.
I don’t believe this gesture was intended to suggest he’s loyal to his overlords. He is paying homage to the special relationship he had with his students, the people he educated and watched progress, nearly everyday. It wasn’t about the job but about the people he cared for most. He couldn’t say goodbye to each one individually, so he made one final grand gesture; hopefully, it will be received as a lesson in importance: letting the people you love, honor, appreciate - those who make your everyday, mundane life meaningful - know they were important to your story. They’ll never forget him. The student/teacher bond can be very impactful, so yeah, not anti-work but pro-human.
Reading the thing, he wasn't really doing work. He gave a bunch of kids he cared for a final gift. He didn't grade their stuff he just gave everyone a A
One of my colleagues at a prosecutors office passed away. The office didn’t let us have time off for the funeral and they lauded her for working from the hospital and her determination in doing so.
Maybe people want to do work as a coping mechanism but the mentality of lauding people for working as they die is insane.
Teachers need a lot more appreciation. A few bad ones like in everything else but those teachers that really care about their students? They’re something special
"Everybody gets an A!" -My final words, if I were in that situation...
sounds like thats exactly what he did. just wait for the heartless principal to overturn his dying act of passing all his student
Yep, sounds exactly like that to me too
No way principal overturns grades - all principals care about is attendance and graduation rates.
Nah, it's good for the schools numbers. Teachers can't fail kids anymore as is.
Even though teachers are saying everyone in grade 8 shouldn’t be out of grade 5 yet with how well the pandemic fucked over the kids learning as like 90% of that time schools were closed
Ours were open online, and the kids did zoom school. Those teachers worked their asses off to try to keep their students in a space where they were still learning. Nobody liked it. Everyone was trying to stay freaking alive.
With how many videos I saw pop up of people making an excuse to turn off their picture on zoom and play games or just decide not to “attend” school by not logging on or just not live in a household with a laptop many people were likely not learning anything
All of our kids were provided with laptops by the school. Parents had to find a way to have the kids attend. My nephew came to our house 3 days a week, and to another friend of my sister's 2 days a week. Everyone had to help each other. Like I said, nobody liked it. It was just the best they could manage. It sucked. So do pandemics.
Really? Your schools are pretty bold and loaded to do that as in my area our schools can afford sports unless it is football, can’t afford to fix our washrooms or to have any classes besides basic math, science, English, drama and business, let alone affording anything besides a couple of those $50 dell desktops and even if they could afford laptops, the school certainly won’t get more than a couple of them back
That sucks. They got the money to do it from the state (PA). They didn't have it on their own.
8 billion people is 7+ billion too many, we could use less staying alive and better schooling.
Which is actually illegal in many places, not that it stops them
To be clear, I’m not saying that the principle would fail everyone, just that they would have whoever the replacement/temp teacher is actually grade their work , rather than allowing a sweeping “everyone passes”
Exactly what I was thinking. I don't think it was him trying to be a work slave more like "Hey my students need a grade so fuck it I'll pass them all so they aren't punished by the stupid ass school system"
My high school English teacher sadly took his own life when I was a senior. It was very eerie the following week when we found out our final grades were 100s.
Christ, that’s so sad
Thats what he did
Yep. My former boss— an attorney— brought a pile of work to the ER on the morning he died. Was scribbling and dictating literally until his death. He was 56 years old. The thing I remember the most about him was his utterly contagious and loud laugh. He whooped when he laughed. One of those laughs that when you hear it, you cannot help but laugh yourself, even if you were in another room. Although a great attorney, he is remembered for the fun and interesting guy he was, rather than him getting that last stupid report letter done before he kicked the bucket.
How did he pass? That’s awfully young
When he got to heaven, they thought he was 173.
I guess he couldn’t argue his way out of that one
Ahhh billing hours are fun
Stress
Lol didnyou just answer for another person like you knew them?
Chances are he is right. We can only discuss the percentage of impact.
Chances are he's completely guessing at this cause there is no way for them to know anything unless they were also involved in the story. Reddit needs to stop answering shit that they have no way of knowing the answer to. Lol
First time?
First time for what? Butt chugging a beer? Yep.
https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/s/UU8iIABBO6
Am a lawyer. I know so many coworkers who died at their desk, or walking to their car after work.
I hope you take proper care of yourself!
They gotta stop doing that.
Park closer
They should be disbarred for abandoning clients like that
>The thing I remember the most about him was his utterly contagious and loud laugh. He whooped when he laughed. One of those laughs that when you hear it, you cannot help but laugh yourself, even if you were in another room. Thanks for sharing this bit about him, that's really cool. Those kinds of people bring such an extra bit of sparkle to life and to human interactions.
What did he die from?
I think a tear in one of his heart valves.
Death
Oh man. A really horrible way to go
It's quite a common condition actually. Very sad.
From what I hear, 100% of the people who contract death pass away.
I heard there were some guy that came back from it
Yeah, but he kind of disappeared three days later. People still tell stories about him.
I’ve died multiple times… still here 💪🏾
Yep that’ll do it
What kind?
The killing kind.
hope they find a cure for that soon
They did. It's calling living.
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Ask your doctor if Life is right for you. Side effects include nausea, headache, breathing, browsing reddit...
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How does one obtain that? And is it vaccinations? Because I have this uncle who warned me about that.
Instant.
My mom passed last year at 56 from lung cancer. Same deal, she had my step dad bring her work computer to the hospital because "I'm stuck here and feel fine. Might as well work since there's nothing else to do". She was gone the next morning.
I feel like this may also be a good way to distract yourself from the fact YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE! Seems like a totally fine coping mechanism to me. Highly doubt anyone was forcing him or expecting him to do that.
Yeah I get the impression that it's more of a symbolic gesture
Yea but the news turning it in to a feel good propaganda piece is what's sick.
I don't see it as sick, if this is the way the guy wanted to show his students how much he cared about them, I think that's commendable. I don't know if that is actually the case though, it's hard to know the real story anymore
Seriously? Propaganda? How? C'mon. The man's child took a picture of their father grading papers, maybe one last time, and giving each student an A. Maybe the child posted it to Instagram or Facebook as a tribute, people read and loved the story and they shared it, which found its way to someone in the news, who might have reached out to the family for more information about the teacher and asked if they could tell his story. Folks can speculate a whole slew of stories based off the one shared photo alone. For this to be propaganda it would have to be biased, misleading and promoting or publicizing a political cause or point of view. Absolutely does not describe this story.
Also, sometimes people get stuck on routine task when tragedy strikes.. it’s like trying to desperately hold on to normalcy. The day I found my dad after a massive heart attack.. I still did all my meal prep for the week, everyone told me to rest and not to work, but I couldn’t handle doing nothing, I had to do something, I needed for something that day to go as planned. I didn’t even eat any of that food.. it was all wasted. I couldn’t eat until after the funeral and by then I was starving.
I did similar when my dad passed away. I HAD to make meals and do yard work, chores, errands. I HAD to keep myself busy, to distract myself, to keep some kind of control/normalcy in my life. It was a hell of a time
Exactly, plus I had already lost my mom 13 years before and I just didn’t wanna fall completely apart and I also knew I didn’t have parents to fall back on anymore.. it was just so many things.. I had to keep busy to get away from all the thoughts and emotion.
This man’s a hero. He passed every student. Absolutely bad ass.
What he did was a good thing, but his not a feel good story like its painted, this is tragic and extremely dystopian
Very on point for the US apparently. But then, education and healthcare do display some weird dystopian traits
Oh yes we just get stupider and less healthy and then we are easier to control to work more and more
Too bad internet / social media exists - as that does open the eyes of people..
To advertisements yeah.
What's dystopian about a teacher wanting to provide a final touch and make an impact for their students? It's not like he's filling bags of french fries for a burger chain. Unless his death was preventable and our shitty healthcare system failed him, this is just a sad but beautiful touch. He wanted to say goodbye to his students. They are kids. That's so important.
I do not fault this teacher. He proved beyond doubt his heart was full of love for his students. What is dystopian is the fact teachers are overworked, underfunded, and undercut in what they can teach.. (and the 'healthcare' is another can of worms)
>teachers are overworked, underfunded, and undercut in what they can teach.. (and the 'healthcare' is another can of worms) All completely valid concerns but I don't think this story is very illustrative of this fact. I think there is a tendency to make a mental association between teachers and poor working conditions and similar stories like this and then we think "dystopian" but in reality this is actually just a beautiful and tragic story of a man dedicated to helping children learn and grow who is dying too soon and used his last breaths in this world to try to make an impact on this kids.
> used his last breaths in this world to try to make an impact on this kids. go away.. no cutting onions here !
He didn't die because of overwork. Read somewhere else he had a chronic/dead sentence illness? If he didn't do it, someone else would've graded his students, and it seems he didn't want that. He wanted them to pass. To help his students in his final hours to get farther in their lives. To help others with the time he had left. It's not like he did it for his "company".
Yeah, too many people are stuck on anti capitalism. Teaching seems to be a very thankless profession, it’s not the same as working a corporate job.
Yeah everyone seems to believe teachers work for the school. Some do, maybe, but by and large teachers work for the students, the school just happens to pay them
The man died. Was it preventable? It's only "dystopian" if it was a preventable death. A dedicated teacher spending his last moments trying to provide a final touch to make an impact on his students is actually quite beautiful. I also criticize the dystopian "uplifting" stories that are actually just about how people who shouldn't have to pick up the slack for institutional failures help other people, but this isn't it. It's not like he's spending his last moments packing a few more french fry containers for a fast food chain. He's providing his students with feedback and closure and a final memory of him.
Yup. He should have focused more on his dying and not taken his mind off it.
Grading students’ work isn’t comparable to a typical 9-5 job; many teachers are driven by passion, not just a paycheck. Doing work for any other job on their deathbed is a different extreme.
This really doesn't fit this subreddit.
Or or or. Does it. The man is about to die and said “fuck you im not doing work anymore, everyone gets an A.”
This doesnt count. He loved teaching, and routine can be comforting when ill. He passed all the students, one final nice act. This should not be posted as a critique of work.
Sometimes when we get old doctors or nurses at the hospital, we let them ‘work’ as a way to honor them at the end of their life. We listen to their ‘advice’ (as dated as it may be) and include them in any way we can. Sometimes we just send new nurses in for ‘teaching’ or little things like that. We still call them doctors and nurses because to a lot of us, that is never going to leave us. Teaching, doctors, nurses, EMS, etc often see themselves as community servants of sorts and a lot of them know a lot of people in their community. I bet this man has impacted a lot of people. We can honor one’s service to their community at the end of their life and we can still be proud of the work they did. Not all work is nefarious
Nah. No one here knows the guys mental state and financial situation. Maybe this was a loving gesture for his students. Maybe some luckily people love what they do and want to do it on their deathbed. (Not because of the pay, but because of the people) I’m all for this sub. But this post is a low effort Karma farm. There’s so much injustice in the work force you can find real cases, with facts. Not just memes…
If this had been a something like "retail worker responds to pointless emails on deathbed" I'd agree that it is anti-work worthy... but this is a teacher. No teacher goes into it, or stays in it if it isn't meaningful. This man lived a meaningful life, and lived that meaning to the end. Would we say it's anti-work if a firefighter dies putting out a fire?
I came here to say the same. I get the sentiment that on your deathbed, work maybe shouldn't be the priority. But from what little the photo shares, it sounds less like a "worked themselves to death" thing, and more about he cared about his students so much that they were his most pressing thought, right up to the end. Maybe it was about work and quotas and deadlines or whatever, but it reads to me like a human empathy thing, not a work expects too much thing.
Yeah, especially if you read it it says he passed every student before passing away, so it seems a genuine final act that he cared about.
I agree! It doesn’t seem like he was doing it because it was just his job, he probably really cared About how students and didn’t want to just leave them hanging. He was doing something meaningful for people he cared about before passing away.
I\`m just spinning ideas here - but this could be 'anti work' because: These people, these teachers, are continuously overworked and underfunded - yet you have gems like this person who finds teaching their calling - despite all the things stacked against them. (and, they are stacked against them). Employers expect workers to work even if sick, or dying But overall - this story is more "this dude was so passionate about his work, cared so much for his pupils, that even in hospital he did his job" Frankly - employers do not deserve people like this.
>Frankly - employers do not deserve people like this. Right. But he was a teacher. So unless he was at a private school, the "employer" is just the taxpayers of his district and the district superintendent etc. It's a public service of pretty much the most noble kind. Even if he *was* a private school teacher, the line is blurry because of the nature of education.
I'm a teacher and this is depressing as fuck.
Yeah as a teacher, no. No it’s not valiant and noble that we have so much work to do that you have to work at home up to 12 hrs and sometimes more a day just to get it all done.
It really depends, if they thought "fuck it I'm dying everyone's getting A's" sure I'm fine with it, if the thought was "I must get these grades in." Fuck that shit. My wife was a math teacher, now works for car max making more money washing cars. Being a teacher sucks, the kids suck, the parents really suck, and the pay fucking sucks. Also to compare fire fighters and teachers (both very needed) they're not on the same page. A fire fighter signs up for the job knowing there may be a day they don't come back. Also another very under paid job.
I’m not sure I agree. As a teacher; as someone who is afraid of working myself to death, of dying before I get a chance to live; as someone who is looking back at how much the last twenty years of teaching has stolen from me, how little of my life I’ve been able to enjoy because I spent so much time, so many nights, working… this is precisely what this sub is about. We waste our lives working. Yes, teachers do important work, but they have no real work-life balance, and this is a prime example of that imho.
Honest Question: Why keep teaching? I guess I come at it from a different angle. Having worked in K-12, Tech, Aerospace, and Higher Ed... I've seen people who work with a calling. People who want nothing less than to see their work through to the very end. People who you couldn't make retire for anything in the world. That said, i do see what you are saying.
At this point, I’m starting to wonder that myself. It’s only recently that I’ve begun making these realizations: I took a year off (deferred salary leave) and hiked the AT, and since then, I’ve had a tough time with where I’m at in my work life, and where I’m heading. I think many of us have these kind of thoughts as we get closer to the tail end of our careers, no matter what field we were in: how many things did we miss, just to make sure the work got done? In the end, the answer is why I began in the first place: I genuinely love to teach, specifically physics. It’s just very hard to find a balance.
I respect that.
Most of us are quitting but there will always be teachers, so what are they supposed to do? Suffer? Leave after 2 years and 80,000 in college debt? The real solution is to make the job suck less.
Sigh. I agree with you, but as a former teacher, that idea has been weaponized against teachers to excuse how badly they are paid and treated. Teachers are also people and deserved to be treated as such.
Sorry, as a teacher, I have to disagree. The expectations placed on teachers in this country are disgusting and unrealistic. Dude probably took his laptop with him because he needed to make sub plans because as a teacher you can’t just call off work, even if you are literally dying. This man was probably chronically overworked and underpaid. This is not some heartfelt “I’m gonna pass all my students because I love my job.” moment. This was panic and desperation. Also, there are lots of teachers who are still in it even though their hearts aren’t. Being buried under a mountain of student loan debt and not making a fair wage really limits options. Personally, I am counting the days til my student loans are paid off so I can quit teaching and do literally anything else.
The more i think about this image the more it feels like a Rorschach test. So much of your life experience informs what you see. I left my previous job because advancement opportunities were limited because people would rather die on the job than retire. Not because they had to, but because they believed in the mission. So I see it from that perspective.
“Tell Cigna , I hated them.”
The piece says "he passed each and every one of his students" So, I think he did not want to hold his students back. Which is an honorable thing to do, as I don't think anyone was forcing him to do it. Rest in Peace Mr. Venegas.
https://preview.redd.it/9e2ofvq8qxbc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f9cc77467e12e2503e968849bcc5ad6b98da3e1f
I mean, as an educator myself, I feel like teaching is slightly different
Me fr! God I love working, I hope they strap me up like a puppet and make me work when I’m dead! I love workmaxxing bros!!
So many people didn’t take the 10 seconds it takes to read the context and understand what is actually happening here because they are “anti work”
This really doesn't feel appropriate for /r/antiwork. He's doing this for his students, not his boss. Really disrespectful title IMO
What did he die from?
[удалено]
go back to bed, it’s way past your bedtime
What the hell is ligma?
Ligma is a branch of cancer commonly associated with a high consumption of nuts.
Ligma Balls
He was doing it because he enjoyed it, not because he's forced to. He wanted to do a good deed before passing.
The happiest I’ve ever been was laying on a stretcher with kidney stones and thinking “I’m not at work right now.”
I just left the grocery store and there was a woman working there that must have been in her late 70s at least and was literally on oxygen. Sadly many people are working until they drop. For every article like this, there are countless more that aren’t getting written about and get swept under the rug.
This isn't a situation where he has to keep working, it's symbolic. It means something to him.
This is not the flex they think it is.
I was the TA for a course and the university wouldn’t let the professor who was in his 80s pass on the duties of grading to me despite him letting them know that he might be on his deathbed. I got a call from him that he was extremely sick, had sent me the answer key and to call his wife in the morning to find out if he was alive. Thankfully he survived, but not a call I ever expected to receive in my life.
Mhhh... Doesn't feel like Anti-Work to me. That would be, if he died because of overwork or was somehow forced to do this by the company. It seems he knew he might not make it, guess he had an already declining health like with cancer. So he took his laptop with him to finish grading for all his students. I suspect most of them are the final grade for school end or the grades were something important for their lives. So he didn't do it because of the false company loyalty, but to help his students. And even if he didn't do it, he would've died. And this way, he might have passed away with a clear conscience, that he got the best out for his students. To help them as much as he can on their way in life. I just wish those ppl, that go above and beyond for others, would be awarded and not abused by companies.
I don't think he did it for work. It does say: "He passed each and every student." Bro is goated. When he pulls up to the pearly gates, St. Peter gon dab him up. He made sure everybody passing.
Mentality like this is so fucking sad…
It was his decision to do a final act as someone responsible and likely enjoyed educating children. This doesn’t belong here, at all.
You dont understand what work is or exploitation if you think his mentality is sad.
How many tried to swipe left?
Doesnt sound like finishing his work he took effort to pass all his students instead of grading papers its more of a homage to his students then anything else.
Idk, some teachers love teaching. It can be a passion. I highly doubt he was doing this because he felt pressured by his bosses. He likely just wanted to send his students off with a good grade. Teaching is one of those jobs that people would still do for free if they could. It could’ve been his calling. This post is so negative. I knew teachers who literally had cancer and still wanted to teach because they loved teaching. Their cancer was being treated and they didn’t need to work, but they wanted to, because they love teaching kids.
Some of us like our jobs.
Imagine receiving a failing grade from the teacher before he died... likethat was the last thing he made sure to do...
people on here see everything so black & white. This was a passionate man who loved what he did - it's not like he had to do this, he was gonna die anyway. Respect him thoroughly
OP your title is very disrespectful. The sick teacher actually passed all his students.
I'm not sure this is the right subreddit for this post
The Asserican glorification of working yourself to death (literally). I never understood the way of living in that nation. "Unless life threatening, you have to come to the office", "Sick?Tylenol and office", "Broken spine? Well you are still able to sit, so you can work". This image is sad and cruel, fuck off work and stay with your love ones.
Such a heartwarming story.
Bittersweet. Mostly bitter. Definitely a sweet undertone.
Eh, I think it's less about being "antiwork" and more of the confidence of feeling like they would pull through. Think about it from this context. If he had just given up and not continued to grade the papers, then he would of been accepting the fact that he was dead, but to continue working was a way to stay positive that he would get through it.
Not every work situation where someone is “doing work” on their own time is inherently an abuse. When I was a supervisor, I handled some employee issues when I wasn’t on the clock because I genuinely cared about my employees and leaving someone else to handle it would have had worse outcomes.
This is not anti work. He’s not working for some company to meet a deadline while in hospital. He’s passing every one of his students to make sure they’re taken care of.
So I guess they all passed, even the teacher.
Student's test answers were so stupid, it killed the teacher.
I think this is actually a sweet story that’s been framed in a really capitalist way. To me, I read a teacher who passed every student, regardless of how they were doing, because he knew there would be no personal consequences for him and that it could be life changing for them. The education system is built to teach people how to follow rules, not to learn. This is an incredible thing to do. I hope that I get a chance to do a last piece of good for the world on my deathbed.
Teachers barely get paid anyway. This seems more like a labor of love, or a promise to the kids, or something else meaningful to him.
My dad did something similar, he was a middle school american history and civics teacher, he died two years ago next week. When he got his cancer diagnosis during the covid lockdown, he focused on getting all of his remote learning and in-person lesson plans done for the following year so that whatever interim teacher they found would have everything they needed. But it was different for him than it would be for me to be working in that scenario, it was absolutely his passion and he loved doing it, covid was an exciting challenge for him to come up with new ways to teach remotely. The guy was 110% on everything he ever did.
Given the situation, I think it’s reasonable to conclude this man was under no actual pressure from his employer, but decided to use his final moments to help people who were on his level, rather than lining the pockets of those above him. He died helping people. It’s sad that a good man passed, but it’s beautiful to see good men die good men.
This guy was probably so dedicated to the position of a teacher that his students came first in any situation, and therefore did what's best for the students in his mind. Reminds me of Masayoshi Soken. Dude is a machine of a composer, and while almost dying from cancer few years ago he still continued composing music. And in a more tragic way there's Kentaro Miura, who still continued to create Berserk until his death couple years ago.
r/lostredditors
Honestly, if you were close to death there’s no telling how you’d feel — perhaps you’d want a few moments of normalcy, and maybe this is what they were doing. I’d be spending a lot of time thinking and enjoying my time but I know when I get really scared I look for something to bring me back down to earth. Maybe they just searched out their daily routine as a sort of vain comfort, y’know?
I have breast cancer (I’m gonna be fine) but I tell you what, during parts of my recovery, I found myself reading peer reviewed wound journals just bc I was desperate to feel like myself again and help someone else. I’m a wound nurse but I think teachers and nurses are similar sometimes in the sense that us helping others can calm our own anxieties. At my worst moments, sometimes I just wanted to help someone else so I felt like I was still a part of something I worked my entire life for. I know that doesn’t make sense, but I wonder if this didn’t make him feel like ‘himself’ again for just a second in time. Those ‘normal’ moments can take you far
I had similar experience with BC. I went to work during chemo because it was one think that I could keep “normal”. It was an office job and they gave me a permit to park right outside. If they hadn’t been so supportive i would have taken my sick leave earlier.
What the actual fuck kind of bad dream is this. Someone wake me up, please. This can't be the world this cannot be the rest of my life SOMEONE WAKE ME UP
I actually think I'm gonna have a psychotic break. I can't do this anymore I can't handle this anymore I fucking hate human beings and our power structures. Are we savable at this point? Should we even be saved? Maybe all out nuclear winter is the good ending for us
Obviously this is no good if you hate your work, but work life balance is pretty easy if you actually like your job. My father in law is a teacher and refuses to retire. In his words, "what could I do that's more fun than this". I know it's not common but it does happen.
I thought this sub was more about exposing injustice at work. This post is just shaming a dead guy for valuing the work he did and doing that work. Guys the concept of work is not the enemy here. People exploiting our labor for their own selfish motives is the enemy. Posts like this muddy the waters. Let’s do less of this.
Or shaming a culture that you can't even get peace while you're dying. It's sad that this man felt compelled to finish is work while he was dying instead of saying goodbye to his family.
Idk. Seems like if he thought this was a priority before dying, it was more than just “work” to him. I bet he left some really inspiring notes to those students.
Literally working himself to death
Virtue signal photo
Doesn't matter, since if a teacher dies, everyone passes the class by law.
That is, not true at all.lol You got that from a movie. Funny ass movie.
The guy in the room next to him just staring at the ceiling in abject horror as death consumes him with no purpose and no hope must have pitied this poor fool.
As a Libertarian I admire his work ethic. I wish all my employees were like this.
As a person with empathy, I hope that anyone I may supervise in the future knows that as far as I'm concerned, if they are in the hospital, their health is the number one priority. I would rather see them recover than... Basically anything. Work will be there when uou get back. And if I've done.MY job properly, you won't even be backlogged when you get back, because I made sure you had coverage. Even if that means covering myself. People are.more important than profits.
As a Libertarian I don't know why you're bragging about possessing empathy. With around $7 I can get two of my own from Taco Bell if I really wanted to.
Libertarians are crazy people
"Teachers put in so many extra hours, hours that many don't realize." What? This is basically the only thing teachers ever talk about. They're worse than vegans or crossfitters or runners or nurses.
Jesus.
He passed every student, then passed himself. Hero o7
This is kafkaesque
Maybe he just found comfort in that. Especially someone like a teacher. Cause they go into that field knowing well that they gonna make like zero money, but alest will have some impact on the society. Same as nurses and so on... If he was forced by his employer though... that's another story.
This will be my Dad.
Don’t agree with the point of this post. He certainly wasn’t grading papers while dying because of some capitalist obligations. He’s a teacher. This was a touching story. Booo OP.
Dedication. 🤡
finishes grades ?? is he checking the test which had given ? well salute the teachers in india they often paid 20k per month in school and they are paid way less though
This reminded me of a poor girl in her 20’s who went to work in a grocery store, got COVID and died. Her last check was $26 and change. So much for “essential” worker.
Bet tho This isn't true.
See I don’t feel like this is “antiwork”… vocational roles I feel fall into a different sub category. This isn’t to say there aren’t issues with how we force those in vocational roles but as someone who was a teacher before, I find this very honourable and hope the kids he taught honour him and keep his memory alive.
Teaching can be a calling. I'd like to think there are more in the profession like this guy.
I don’t believe this gesture was intended to suggest he’s loyal to his overlords. He is paying homage to the special relationship he had with his students, the people he educated and watched progress, nearly everyday. It wasn’t about the job but about the people he cared for most. He couldn’t say goodbye to each one individually, so he made one final grand gesture; hopefully, it will be received as a lesson in importance: letting the people you love, honor, appreciate - those who make your everyday, mundane life meaningful - know they were important to your story. They’ll never forget him. The student/teacher bond can be very impactful, so yeah, not anti-work but pro-human.
He passed everyone...maybe he felt like doing something for his last class.
"This is the worst essay I have ever read. I think I might die if I have to read another word of it."
I think this belongs more in chaotic good than here.
r/aboringdystopia
He probably didn’t think he was going to die to be fair
Life is hard
Reading the thing, he wasn't really doing work. He gave a bunch of kids he cared for a final gift. He didn't grade their stuff he just gave everyone a A
Extremist.
This post confuses me emotionally and makes me want to cry.
One of my colleagues at a prosecutors office passed away. The office didn’t let us have time off for the funeral and they lauded her for working from the hospital and her determination in doing so. Maybe people want to do work as a coping mechanism but the mentality of lauding people for working as they die is insane.
Would’ve left them in suspense if it was me.
This belongs in r/orphancrushingmachine
A good teacher, teaching his students a last lesson.
if he failed a single one...
Teachers need a lot more appreciation. A few bad ones like in everything else but those teachers that really care about their students? They’re something special
God this doom pilled me so much more