M

argie even wrote about it that night in her diary. On the
page headed May 17, 2155, she wrote, “Today 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 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.
1
2
3
SHORT STORY
NOTES
Isaac Asimov
The
Fun
They Had
The Fun They Had 239

Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
NOTES
“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.”
“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 her 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, after an
hour or so, there it was again, large 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 she hated most was the
slot where she had to put homework and test
papers. She always had to write them out in a punch code
1
they
made her learn when she was six years old, and the mechanical
teacher calculated the mark in no time.
The inspector had smiled after he was finished and patted
her 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
1. punch code card containing data that was used to program computers during the 1940s,
when this story was written.
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Mark context clues or indicate
another strategy you used that
helped you determine meaning.
sorrowfully (SAWR oh fuhl
ee) adv.
MEANING:
11
12
13
14
15
Why would anyone write
about school?
240 UNIT 3 • MODERN TECHNOLOGY
Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
NOTES
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.”
“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 can’t. A man can’t know as much as a 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?”
“Maybe,” 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, 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.”
Mark context clues or indicate
another strategy you used that
helped you determine meaning.
loftily (LAWF tih lee) adv.
MEANING:
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Mark context clues or indicate
another strategy you used that
helped you determine meaning.
nonchalantly (non shuh
LONT lee) adv.
MEANING: 36
37
The Fun They Had 241
Copyright © Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
NOTES
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 on the homework and talk
about it.
And the teachers were people. . . .
The mechanical teacher was flashing on the screen: “When we
add the 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.

NOTICE the general ideas of

the text. What is it about?

Who is involved?

The text is about

The characters in the text are

ANNOTATE by marking

vocabulary and key passages

you want to revisit.

Unknown Vocabulary

1.

2.

3.

Passage you would like to revisit:

I already know

RESPOND by completing

the Comprehension Check and

by summarizing the main idea

of the selection.

1 answer

NOTICE the general ideas of the text.

The text is about the experiences of two children, Margie and Tommy, who discover a physical book from a time long before their own, where schooling was conducted differently than in their futuristic world dominated by mechanical teachers and technology. The story explores themes of nostalgia, education, and the differences between traditional and futuristic schooling.

The characters in the text are Margie, an eleven-year-old girl who dislikes her mechanical school, Tommy, her thirteen-year-old friend who has more experience with telebooks, and the county inspector who checks the mechanical teacher. There are also mentions of Margie's mother and grandfather.

ANNOTATE by marking vocabulary and key passages you want to revisit.

Unknown Vocabulary

Mechanical teacher: A device used for education that operates on technology, rather than a human being.
Scornful: Expressing contempt or disdain.
Nonchalantly: In a casually calm or relaxed manner.

Passage you would like to revisit:
"She was thinking about how the kids must have loved it in the old days. She was thinking about the fun they had."

I already know

This text highlights the contrast between past and future educational experiences, showcasing a sense of longing for the social and engaging aspects of learning from a human teacher.

RESPOND by completing the Comprehension Check and summarizing the main idea of the selection.

Main Idea:
"The Fun They Had" illustrates a futuristic society where children learn from mechanical teachers, and it contrasts their experience with the traditional schooling of the past, where children learned in a social setting led by human teachers. Margie's discovery of a physical book prompts her to reflect on the differences in education and evokes a sense of longing for the camaraderie and fun associated with schools of the past.