The Fun They had Summary
This story is set about 150 years in the future; 17 May 2157 to be exact. The author describes a time in the future when every child has his or her own machine teacher and school such as does not exist today. There are telebooks, in which words move across the screen. Given that this story was written before it was around personal computers in 1951, it is amazing how well the author predicts the future. We are not living in 2155 right now, but it is already possible for us to read digital books on handheld devices. Perhaps in the future, children will actually be taught by mechanical teachers!
On that particular day, a thirteen-year-old boy, Tommy, finds a 'real book' in the attic of his home. The book, which is really old, is printed on paper and its pages are yellow and smelly. He and his friend, eleven-year-old Margie, take a look at the book together. Both Margie and Tommy are amazed by the book that is different from the books they are accustomed to. The book contains words that are fixed on the pages and do not run on the screen. Books like these no longer exist. Margie recalls that her grandfather once told her about the stories printed on paper in her grandfather's time. Tommy considers the book impractical because, unlike his telebook, which has a million books and is good for much, one must throw away the book after reading it.
Tommy tells Margie that the book is about school, but Margie, who hates school and cannot understand why someone would write about her, is disappointed. Her. Mechanical teacher is facing problems in learning geography. It teaches Margie, gives her practice and asks her questions, all in a special room in her house. It can also calculate the mark in no time. Margie hates the slot where she has to put her homework or test paper.
Recently, her dislike for her school has intensified because her mechanical teacher's geography area is flawed. It is giving her test after test in geography and she is doing worse.
Her mother sent for a county inspector to see the mechanical inspector and rectify the error. The inspector takes the mechanical teacher aside and finds that Margie is not mistaken for her poor performance.
The geography area of the teacher is set at a pace that is too fast for a little girl. Margie is hoping that she won't know how to add it again, but she knows how to fix it, and after an hour the inspector can set the speed of Margie's level. This frustrates Margie as she hoped her teacher would be removed for some time and she would get rid of the hassle of taking so many tests.
Tommy, who is reading the book, tells Margie that the book is not about the kind of school that mechanical teachers with TV have, but rather, it was about schools hundreds of years ago when students had a teacher As a person he taught girls and boys, gave them homework and asked them questions. The school was a special building in which the children went. And if they were the same age, they learned the same.
At first, Margie did not understand how a person can be a teacher and how to teach the same thing to students because her mother says that education should fit the mind of each child.
Still, she wants to read more about it. They don't even read half the book, when Margie's mother reminds her that it's school time. Although Margie's school room is right next to her bedroom, she has to study at regular hours because her mother considers it appropriate to study at certain times every day.
Margie goes to the school room in her house, where the mechanical teacher is already present because the lessons are always at regular times. As the mechanical teacher teaches the addition of appropriate fractions, Margie gets lost in her thoughts about the work of schools in the olden times. However for the first time Margie was skeptical about the notion that by the end of the story she believes that the children would have enjoyed going to school together. They must have enjoyed being able to attend the same school, study the same things, and help each other.
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