Chapter 1 - The Fun They Had

By Isaac Asimov
About the Author Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov (1920- 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at
Boston University. He was known for his works of science fiction and popular science.
Asimov was a prolific writer who wrote or edited more than 500 books and an estimated
90,000 letters and postcards. Isaac Asimov was the Grand Master of the Science
Fiction Writers of America, the founder of robot ethics, and one of the world’s most prolific
authors of fiction

Introduction

“The Fun They Had’ by Isaac Asimov is a science fiction. This is a very light story. It is set
in the future. It will make all of you love school. This story is regarding school life and
how those children who do not go to school, miss school. The setting of the story is in
the future when perhaps, there will be no school, no books. . It tells the story of two
young children named Tommy and Margie who live in the year 2157, where children get an
education through computers at their home. Now how those students will miss going to
school and will feel that their ancestors that is the present generation- you all, had fun
going to school, meeting and helping each other. One day they come through a printed
book and learn something about the school that existed hundreds and hundreds of years
ago. In the end we come to know that this is an imagination of a young girl named
Margie who comes to know that their ancestors used to go to school, all the children
used to study together. She feels that they all had a lot of fun when they went to school.
So, when we read the story we feel that school life is very good, and we are fortunate
that we have real schools where we go, meet friends and get a chance to study
together.

Explanation of the lesson:

 MARGIE even wrote about it that night in her diary. On the page headed 17 May 2157,
she wrote, “Today Tommy found a real book!”

 Margie is the main character of the story. She is a girl of 11 years of age. She writes a
diary on the night of 17 May 2157. (Right now, we are living in 2018. As told earlier,
th

the story is set in the future and it is set in the year 2157, so almost one and a half
century that is 140 years from now). At that time, Margie writes an entry in her diary
and she writes that ‘Tommy found a real book’ and she is feeling so strange because in
her times, real books do not exist. They only have e-books, the virtual books. So,
books in the format of print on paper are extinct and so, Margie is astonished to see a
real book.

It was a very old book. Margie’s grandfather once said that when he was a little boy his
grandfather told him that there was a time when all stories were printed on paper.

Margie is reminded of her grandfather. He told her that his grandfather studied all the
books that were printed on paper. So, this kind of a book is historical or ancient for
them. Something which they cannot believe, they can’t imagine.
 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.

 crinkly: with many folds or lines, something that is crushed.

 Margie is talking about the book that Tommy had found. She says that the pages of
the book had turned yellow, and they had been crushed as it was very old. The children
found it very funny to read the words which stood still. (Now what does it mean by that
words that stood still? As the words were printed on the pages, they did not move). On
the other hand, the books that Margie and Tommy read were online (e-books). So, in
the e-books how it happens, the text keeps on moving as your screen moves but it was
different in the books printed on paper.

 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.

This was a very strange experience for these children. When you have a book, which is
printed on paper, whenever you flip the pages, you to get to see the same thing written
on the pages. On the other hand, in an e-book, the text keeps on changing on the
screen. The screen is same. You have the same screen in front of you, but the text
keeps on changing. So, whenever you go back the text is different.

 “Gee,” said Tommy, “what a waste. When you’re through with the book, you just throw
it away, I 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.”

Tommy disliked the printed book.He said that it was a waste because he felt that
whenever you complete reading a book, you have to throw it away. You cannot have
some different story written on the same book. On the contrary, he felt that the
Computer screen was very good, because the same screen had shown him many
books and still he could read many more on it.He would not have to throw that screen
away when once he had read a particular story.

 “Same with mine,” said Margie. She was eleven and hadn’t seen as many telebooks as
Tommy had.He was thirteen.

Margie agreed with Tommy opinion. Margie was 11 years of age and she has not read
as many books as Tommy had because Tommy was older to Margie, he was thirteen
years of age.

She said, “Where did you find it?”

Margie asked Tommy that where had he found the printed book.

“In my house.” He pointed without looking,because he was busy reading. “In the attic”.

 attic: a space just below the roof, used as a storeroom

Tommy replied to Margie that he found the printer book in the storeroom of his house.
He was so busy reading the book that he did not remove his glance from the book.

 “What’s it about?”
Margie asked that what the book was about.

 “School”

 Tommy replied that the book was about school. About going to school, about the life at
school.

 Margie was scornful.

 “School?  What’s there to write about school? I hate school.”

scornful: contemptuous; showing you think something is worthless, show your dislike
for something

Margie hated the word ‘school’ and so, she said that what was there to write about it
that an entire book had been written about 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.

What is Margie’s school? Margie’s school is a mechanical teacher. (A mechanical

Teacher means the machine which teaches you and not that school where we all go).

 Now why did Margie hate school? Margie’s school was a virtual classroom. It was not
a real school like we have today. So, in the future we are thinking that the schools will
be virtual classrooms. There will be machines that will be teaching the children. Margie
hated this machine because it was giving her so many tests in geography which were
very difficult for her and she was performing very bad.Finally, her mother thought that
there was something wrong with the machine and so, she had called the County
Inspector to check it.

 He was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and wires.

The County Inspector came to check the mechanical teacher. He was a round little
man and he had a red face. He was carrying a big box full of tools with dials and wires.

He smiled at Margie and gave her an apple, then took the teacher apart.

So, this man opened the machine. He was there to repair the computer.

 Margie had hoped he wouldn’t know how to put it together again, but he knew how
allright, and, after an hour or so, there it was again, large and black and ugly, with a big
screen on which all the lessons were shown and the questions were asked.

Once he had opened the computer, Margie wished that he would be unable to close it
back because she did not like the computer, she did not like to study from this
teacher.But the man was an expert and within an hour he had repaired the computer
and had closed it and made it ready to teach Margie once again.

Margie gives a description of the computer. She feels that it is very huge, it is black in
colour and she dislikes its appearance. It has a big screen and all the lessons appear
on the screen and many questions are asked on the same screen which are difficult for
Margie.

 That wasn’t so bad. The part Margie hated most was the slot where she had to put
homework and test papers.

 slot: a given space, time or position

Margie hated this mechanical teacher the most because she had to submit her
homework and test papers to it.

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 calculate the marks in no time.

Margie had to write her homework and her test papers in a particular punch code that
is a computing language. She had learned the language at the age of 6. The machine
checked the papers and calculated her marks in a few seconds.

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.

 Geared (to): adjusted to a particular standard or level

 So, the County inspector said that Margie was getting bad marks in Geography
because the Machine was not working properly. It was geared to a higher level.  

Those things happen sometimes. I’ve slowed it up to an average ten-year level.

He said that sometimes machines malfunctioned and that is what had happened. He
had slowed it down and set is to the pace of a learner of ten-years of age.

Actually, the overall pattern of her progress is quite satisfactory.” And he patted
Margie’s head again.

He said that Margie was learning at a good pace. He again patted Margie’s head in
order to cheer her up.

Margie was disappointed. She had been hoping they would take the teacher away
altogether.

Margie was sad because she did not want to learn, she did want to study from this
machine.  And she wanted that the inspector should take it away.

They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history
sector had blanked out completely.

Blanked out: it has been erased

Margie is reminded of the time when Tommy’s Mechanical teacher had been taken
away for repair for almost one month and he was enjoying his time as he didn’t have
any teacher. It had been taken away because the History sector the portion of the
machine that taught the History subject had been wiped out. So, the mechanical
teacher did not have any memory of it and had to be taken away for repair.
So she said to Tommy, “Why would anyone write about school?”

Now we know the reason for Margie’s dislike for school. So, she asked Tommy that
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.

Tommy was looking at Margie with superior eyes because he knew something that
Margie was not aware of. He said that Margie was silly because she did not know that
many years ago, the school was not the kind they had.

“He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”

Loftily: in a superior way

Tommy wanted to stress on the time period and said that centuries ago, the school
were not like the once they had.

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.”

Margie was hurt at Tommy’s behaviour and she said that she did not know what kind of
schools they had centuries ago. She was curious and imagined a group of children
being taught buy a human teacher. She looked over Tommy’s shoulder, trying to read
the book and said that perhaps they had a teacher.

“Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”

Regular: here, normal; of the usual kind

(Tommy is referring to a machine teacher as a regular teacher because that is what

they are used to. That is the teacher they had, a Machine). He said that it wasn’t the
machine; it was a man (human being) who taught them.

“A man? How could a man be a teacher?”

Margie could not believe that a man was a teacher because she had always seen a
machine doing that.

“Well, he just told the boys and girls things and gave them homework and asked them
questions.”

Tommy Tells that the man who taught the class discussed many things with the
students gave them homework and then asked them different questions based on it
just like their mechanical teacher did.

“A man isn’t smart enough.”

Margie said that a man teacher is not as smart (intelligent) as the machine teacher.  

“Sure he is. My father knows as much as my teacher.”

Tommy asks Margie not to underestimate the human teacher. He said that he is as
knowledgeable as the machine. He compares the machine to his father and says that
his father knows as much as his machine teacher.

“He knows almost as much, I betcha.”

Betcha (informal): (I) bet you (in fast speech): I'm sure

Tommy could bet on it that the human teacher knew as much as a mechanical teacher
did.

Margie wasn’t prepared to dispute that. She said, “I wouldn’t want a strange man in my
house to teach me.”

Dispute: disagree with when you are opposing something,

Margie did not want to discuss this further and added that she did not want a strange
man, the human teacher to come to her house to teach her.

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.”

Tommy found it very funny when Margie said that she did not want a strange man to
come to her house to teach her. He said that teachers didn’t come to the students’
house to teach them. They had a special building; a school and the students went to
the school to study.  

“And all the kids learned the same thing?”

Margie was astonished and asked that did all the children learn the same thing.

“Sure, if they were the same age.”

Tommy said that all the children of the same age studied the same thing.

“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.”

Margie refers to a machine teacher. She says that her mother told her that the machine
had to be tuned to the level of each boy or a girl who was studying from it. So, each
child had to be taught separately depending on their level.

“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.”

Tommy replied that in the past they did not do it that way. He got irritated at Margie and
said that she need not read the book.

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Margie said quickly.

Margie is interested in the book. She is curious to know what kind of schools were
there.

She wanted to read about those funny schools.

Margie was inquisitive. She wanted to know what kind of schools there in were the past
as she felt that they were fun.

They weren’t even half finished when Margie's Mother called, “Margie! School!”

Margie had read just half of the book when her mother called her as it was time for her
to attend her virtual school.

Margie looked up. “Not yet, Mamma”

Margie’s school was in the next room, next to her bedroom. She said to her mother that
not yet, she did not want to go to school.

“Now!” said Mrs Jones. “And it’s probably time for Tommy, too.”

Margie’s mother said to Tommy that it was time for him to go to school too.

Margie said to Tommy, “Can I read the book some more with you after school?”

Margie was so interested in reading the book that she asked Tommy if she could read
the book with him after school.

“May be,” he said nonchalantly.

Nonchalantly: not showing much interest or enthusiasm; carelessly

Tommy tried to ignore her and said that maybe she could read it.

He walked away whistling, the dusty old book tucked beneath his arm.

Tommy was feeling very great because Margie was interested in reading the book. He
placed the book under his arm and he went off to his home.

Margie went into the schoolroom. It was right next to her bedroom, and the mechanical
teacher was on and waiting for her.

Margie reached her school. It was a room, next to her bedroom. It was a virtual
classroom. There was a machine teacher for Margie. It was on and it was waiting for
her to begin teaching her.

It was always on at the same time every day except Saturday and Sunday, because
her mother said little girls learned better if they learned at regular hours.

Margie studied all the days except Saturdays and Sundays, at the same time from this
mechanical teacher. Margie’s mother was very particular. She had told Margie that she
would learn better if she would study everyday at the same time.

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 sat in front of the machine similar to a computer and the machine was turned
on. It said that the lesson of the day was in Arithmetic and the topic was addition of
proper fractions. Further, it instructed her to insert the homework of the previous day in
the slot for inserting the homework.
Margie did so with a sigh.

Margie’s life is also very mechanical just like a machine. There is no fun in her
classroom. It is very dull and boring just like a machine.

She was thinking about the old schools they had when her grandfather's grandfather
was a little boy.

Margie is thinking of the story told to her by her grandfather.  Her Grandfather told her
that his grandfather used to go to school when he was a little boy. As Margie is bored
with this machine, she is reminded of that life.

All the kids from the whole neighbourhood came, laughing and shouting in the
schoolyard, sitting together in the schoolroom, going home together at the end of the
day.

 (This is the life that you all are living at present, but for the future kids it will be just a
memory of the past. For them it will be history because their life will be very different.
They will study from machines.)

When Margie comes to know that in the past, children used to go to school, they sat
together, laughed and shouted in the school, she gets curious about it and wants to go
to school. (The writer wants us to realize the importance of schools in our life. Children
sometimes get bored and fed up of going to school, but if you don’t have a school you
won’t get to meet friends. Your life will be very dull and boring).

They learned the same things, so they could help one another with the homework and
talk about it.

Margie feels that school is so much fun, children get together, they study in a fun way,
they get the same homework, and they can discuss it, take help and talk about it also.
So, all the students become friends and study in a fun way.

And the teachers were people…

She found it very strange that the teachers were not machines, but they were human
beings.

The mechanical teacher was flashing on the screen: “When we add fractions ½ and
¼...”

As Margie had inserted her homework, the machine started with the lesson. There was
no pause, no time for fun, no time for chatting, and no time for interacting with friends.

Margie was thinking about how the kids must have loved it in the old days. She was
thinking about the fun they had.

The author ends the story with the title of the chapter ‘The Fun They Had’. (The fun the
students had when they went to real schools). Margie is just thinking about the kids of
the past who went to school and enjoyed studies.
SUMMARY

The story opens with Margie writing in her diary about an old book that Tommy had
found. Margie was reminded of her grandfather who had once talked about his
grandfather who went to an actual school where the students were taught by human
teachers.

However, Margie and Tommy lived in the future world, in the year 2157 where
education was completely computerized. They did not go to schools. Instead, they had
a special study room where a computer taught them. The computer teacher was
programmed and adjusted according to the needs of each child. Now and then the
computer teacher developed faults which were fixed by a County Inspector.

Both Tommy and Margie wondered at the book found by Tommy in his attic. They
wondered at it as they read books on the screen of their computer teacher. Margie felt
that the computer teacher was boring; she disliked the mechanical teaching and
learning. She also wondered how much fun it would be studying in a school. Studying
in a fun way with other children and that too from a human teacher.

  Question and Answers

Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.

1. How old are Margie and Tommy?

A. Margie and Tommy live in the future, in the year 2157. They are neighbours and
spend time together. Margie is a girl of eleven years of age while Tommy is a boy of
thirteen.

 2. What did Margie write in her diary?

A. On 17 May 2157, Margie wrote that that day Tommy had found a real book in the
attic of his house. It was an old book with yellow, crinkly pages.

 3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?

A. No, Margie had not seen a book before the one found by Tommy in his house. She
had only heard from her grandfather that his grandfather went to school as a boy and
that they read books that were printed on paper.

 4. What things about the book did she find strange?

A. As Margie lived in an era where students studied from a mechanical teacher and all
the books appeared on the screen, she found it strange that the words on the printed
book did not move. It was strange to see the same words appear on the pages as she
flipped them over.

 5. What do you think a telebook is?

A. A telebook is an electronic book also known as an e-book. It is stored in a computer

and can be read by scrolling up or down the screen.
 6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?

A. Margie’s school was in her house. It was a room next to her bedroom. It was a
personal classroom where the computer was adjusted to her level of learning. She
studied by herself and had no classmates.

7. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?

A. Margie and Tommy learnt a lot of subjects like Geography, History and Mathematics.

 Answer the following with reference to the story.

 1. “I wouldn’t throw it away.”

(i) Who says these words?

A. Tommy says these words.

(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?

A. ‘It’ refers to the Computer screen on which Tommy reads various books.

(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?

A. ‘It’ is being compared to the paper book that Tommy found in his house.

2. “Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”

(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to?

A. ‘They’ refers to the ancestors of the children who went to school and studied from a
human teacher.

(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here?

A. ‘Regular’ means the mechanical teacher which teaches Margie and Tommy.

(iii) What is it contrasted with?

A. The mechanical teacher is contrasted with a human teacher.

Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).

1. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?

A. Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They were computers which had
preloaded lessons on different subjects according to the learner’s level. Whenever they
malfunctioned, they were opened and repaired.

2. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?

A. Margie’s mother called the County Inspector to check Margie’s teacher. She thought
that probably, Margie’s teacher had a malfunction. Margie was failing the Geography
tests repeatedly which could be due to a fault in the teacher.

3. What did he do?

A. The County Inspector was trained to repair the computer teacher. He opened the
machine and checked it. The Geography sector was set on a higher level. He reset it to
Margie’s level and closed the teacher.

4. Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the County Inspector do to
help her?

A. Margie was failing in the Geography tests as the teacher had developed a fault. The
County Inspector told Margie’s mother that Margie was not at fault. Her progress was
good. He reset the teacher to Margie’s level.

5. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?

A. Once Tommy’s teacher had developed a fault as the entire section on History had
been deleted. His teacher had been taken for repairs and it took them a month to set it
right.

6. Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?

A. Margie studied at the same time every day, except Saturdays and Sunday. Her
mother was very particular and had told Margie that she would learn better if she
studied at the same time every day.

7. How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?

A. Tommy said that in the old kind of schools, there was a man teacher who told a few
things to the students gave them home work and then asked them questions. The man
teacher was as knowledgeable as the machine teacher.

8. How does he describe the old kind of teachers?

A. He says that the old teachers were not the regular kind they had. They were human
beings and not machines.

 Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs (100 –150 words).

1. What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms that
Margie and Tommy have in the story?

A. Margie and Tommy were taught by mechanical teachers. They had large black
screens on which the lessons appeared. The lessons were followed by questions. The
students had to insert homework and test papers in the slots provided. They had to
write down the work in a punch code which was a computing language. The
mechanical teacher checked the papers and gave them marks within a few seconds.
These classrooms were in the student’s home itself. Every student studied from his
respective mechanical teacher. Each teacher was adjusted according to the level of the
learner. They did not have classmates. They studied various subjects like Geography,
History and Mathematics. Margie studied everyday at the same time except Saturdays
and Sundays. Her mother said that she would learn better if she studied that way. The
learning process was mechanical, dull and boring for them.

2. Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have
been fun?

A. Margie hated school because it was not fun. There was a mechanical teacher and
the learning process lacked life. It was like a machine carrying out the usual working,
there was nothing new, no fun or laughter.  Margie’s mechanical teacher was giving her
tests in Geography and she was performing badly at them. Later it was discovered that
the teacher had developed a fault due to which it was giving her tests of a higher level.
Margie’s mother called the County Inspector. He opened the teacher, found the fault
and rectified it. Margie disliked the teacher and hoped that he would not be able to
repair it. She hated inserting the homework and test papers into the slot provided.

She thought that the children in the past must have had a lot of fun when they went to
school with fellow children. She found it amazing that all the children studied together,
the same things and could discuss studies and help each other with the homework too.
As the teachers were people, they would not behave like machines. The human aspect
of education in the past made her feel that the school of the past were fun.

3. Do you agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in
the story? Give reasons for your answer. (Do It Yourself.)

A. Yes, schools today are more fun than the school in the story. In the story, there is no
interaction among students regarding studies. Studying and answering
questions seems to be a boring idea. Doing homework without anybody’s help and
writing them in a punch code would also be draining. Moreover, children develop a
better understanding about each other and of their surroundings when they go to a
school and interact with each other. It is a healthier way of learning.
Listening to teachers explaining lessons is always more interesting than reading
the entire lesson on a mechanical computer. Also, if any student faces any problem
with the subject or in homework, he can discuss it with the teacher and other kids.
The excitement of waiting to know the marks scored in exams is greater when one
is sitting in a classroom with other students. It does not have the same effect when
the marks are calculated immediately after a test has been taken. Therefore,
schools today are more fun than the school in the story as they are more interactive.
They promote a healthy environment for the students to study and learn.