the fun they had Flashcards
BEFORE YOU READ
• The story we shall read is set in the future
when books and
schools as we now know them will perhaps not exist. How
will children study then? The diagram below may give you
some ideas.
Learning
through
computers
Virtual
classroom
Moving
e-text
Schools of
the Future
• In pairs
discuss three things that you like best about your
school and three things about your school that you would
like to change. Write them down.
• Have you ever read words on a television (or computer) screen?
Can you imagine a time when all books will be on computers
and there will be no books printed on paper? Would you like
such books better?
- MARGIE even wrote about it that night in her diary.
On the page headed 17 May 2157
she wrote
Tommy found a real book!”
It was a very old book. Margie’s grandfather once
said that when he was a little boy his grandfather
- The F 1. The F1. The Fun They Had
Robotic
teacher
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told him that there was a time when all stories
were printed on paper.
They turned the pages
which were yellow and
crinkly
and it was awfully funny to read words
that stood still instead of moving the way they were
supposed to — on a screen
you know. And then
when they turned back to the page before
it had
the same words on it that it had had when they
read it the first time.
- “Gee
” said Tommy
through with the book
you just throw it away
guess. Our television screen must have had a million
books on it and it’s good for plenty more. I wouldn’t
throw it away.”
“Same with mine
” said Margie. She was eleven
and hadn’t seen as many telebooks as Tommy had.
He was thirteen.
She said
“Where did you find it?”
“In my house.” He pointed without looking
because he was busy reading. “In the attic.”
“What’s it about?”
“School.”
- Margie was scornful. “School? What’s there to write
about school? I hate school.”
Margie always hated school
but now she hated
it more than ever. The mechanical teacher had been
giving her test after test in geography and she had
been doing worse and worse until her mother had
shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County
Inspector.
- He was a round little man with a red face and a
whole box of tools with dials and wires. He smiled
at Margie and gave her an apple
then took the
teacher apart. Margie had hoped he wouldn’t know
how to put it together again
but he knew how all
right
and
large and black and ugly
with a big screen on which
all the lessons were shown and the questions were
asked. That wasn’t so bad. The part Margie hated
attic: a space just
below the roof
used
as a storeroom
scornful:
contemptuous;
showing you think
something is
worthless
crinkly: with many
folds or lines
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most was the slot where she had to put homework
and test papers. She always had to write them out
in a punch code they made her learn when she was
six years old
and the mechanical teacher calculated
the marks in no time.
- The Inspector had smiled after he was finished and
patted Margie’s head. He said to her mother
“It’s
not the little girl’s fault
Mrs Jones. I think the
geography sector was geared a little too quick. Those
things happen sometimes. I’ve slowed it up to an
average ten-year level. Actually
the overall pattern
of her progress is quite satisfactory.” And he patted
Margie’s head again.
Margie was disappointed. She had been hoping
they would take the teacher away altogether. They
had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a
month because the history sector had blanked out
completely.
So she said to Tommy
“Why would anyone write
about school?”
- Tommy looked at her with very superior eyes.
“Because it’s not our kind of school
stupid. This is
the old kind of school that they had hundreds and
hundreds of years ago.” He added loftily
pronouncing the word carefully
“Centuries ago.”
Margie was hurt. “Well
I don’t know what
kind of school they had all that time ago.” She read
the book over his shoulder for a while
then said
“Anyway
they had a teacher.”
loftily: in a superior
way
slot: a given space
time or position
geared (to): adjusted
to a particular
standard or level
They had a teacher… It was a man.
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“Sure they had a teacher
but it wasn’t a regular
teacher. It was a man.”
“A man? How could a man be a teacher?”
“Well
he just told the boys and girls things and
gave them homework and asked them questions.”
- “A man isn’t smart enough.”
“Sure he is. My father knows as much as my
teacher.”
“He knows almost as much
I betcha.”
Margie wasn’t prepared to dispute that. She said
“I wouldn’t want a strange man in my house to
teach me.”
Tommy screamed with laughter. “You don’t know
much
Margie. The teachers didn’t live in the
house. They had a special building and all the
kids went there.”
“And all the kids learned the same thing?”
“Sure
if they were the same age.”
- “But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted to
fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches and that
each kid has to be taught differently.”
“Just the same they didn’t do it that way then.
If you don’t like it
you don’t have to read the book.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it
” Margie said quickly.
She wanted to read about those funny schools.
They weren’t even half finished when Margie’s
mother called
“Margie! School!”
Margie looked up. “Not yet
Mamma.”
“Now!” said Mrs Jones. “And it’s probably time
for Tommy
too.”
Margie said to Tommy
“Can I read the book some
more with you after school?”
- “May be
” he said nonchalantly. He walked away
whistling
the dusty old book tucked beneath
his arm.
Margie went into the schoolroom. It was right
next to her bedroom
and the mechanical teacher
was on and waiting for her. It was always on at the
same time every day except Saturday and Sunday
betcha (informal):
(I) bet you (in fast
speech): I’ m sure
dispute: disagree
with
nonchalantly: not
showing much
interest or
enthusiasm;
carelessly
regular: here
normal; of the usual
kind
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because her mother said little girls learned better
if they learned at regular hours.
The screen was lit up
and it said: “Today’s
arithmetic lesson is on the addition of proper
fractions. Please insert yesterday’s homework in the
proper slot.”
- Margie did so with a sigh. She was thinking about
the old schools they had when her grandfather’s
grandfather was a little boy. All the kids from the
whole neighborhood came
laughing and shouting
in the schoolyard
sitting together in the schoolroom
going home together at the end of the day. They
learned the same things
so they could help one
another with the homework and talk about it.
And the teachers were people…
The mechanical teacher was flashing on the
screen: “When we add fractions ½ and ¼…”
Margie was thinking about how the kids must
have loved it in the old days. She was thinking
about the fun they had.
ISAAC ASIMOV
The mechanical teacher was flashing on the screen…
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Thinking about the Text
I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.
- How old are Margie and Tommy?
- What did Margie write in her diary?
- Had Margie ever seen a book before?
- What things about the book did she find strange?
- What do you think a telebook is?
- Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
- What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
II. Answer the following with reference to the story.
- “I wouldn’t throw it away.”
(i) Who says these words?
(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?
(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?
- “Sure they had a teacher
but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”
(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to?
(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here?
(iii) What is it contrasted with?
III. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).
- What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?
- Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
- What did he do?
- Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the County Inspector
do to help her?
- What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?
- Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so
why?
- How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?
- How does he describe the old kind of teachers?
IV. Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs (100 –150 words).
- What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms
that Margie and Tommy have in the story?
- Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must
have been fun?
Calculate how many years and months ahead from now Margie’s
diary entry is.
Activity
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- Do you agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in
the story? Give reasons for your answer.
