The Fun They Had

Chapter Summary

The story The Fun They Had describes the future is going to be with the application of computers. The future will be excellent with the application of virtual reality. The virtual classroom helps in learning the actual syllabus through computer software. Moreover, this story is about the fun experience of two children named Tommy and Margie who have experienced the usefulness of the computerised book instead of reading the hard copies. This story also defines how a child who is learning through robots and computer get excited after knowing the ancient practices of school days from her grandparent.

Margie and Tommy

Margie and Tommy both are living in a futuristic world which is actually the year 2157, and the process of learning in the new generation is different from the old schools. The era, where both Margie and Tommy are living is operated with virtual reality. They learn through different computer software and robotic teachers.

Margie was very regular about her school days and hours. The learning process in the school with the computer software and robots gained the interest of Tommy and Margie in the first days. It let them make the learning from the lesions quickly. Due to the regularity maintained by Margie, her mother believed that she could learn better if she presents school regularly.

The Teacher

The incident that took place with Tommy’s teacher was unfortunate. Tommy was learning History, Geography, and arithmetic in school with the presence of a virtual reality and mechanical teacher. The history sector of Tommy’s mechanical teacher was blanked out. This occurred because of taking it away for a month.

The County Inspector

Margie hated going to school. She did not like the learning system followed in school. She did not like the way; robots took her geography test repeatedly. She did not like taking the continued tests with the virtual reality in school. Hence, Margie’s mother sent her to the County Inspector as she became concerned about her learning and future.

The County Inspector gave Margie an apple with a smile and took the mechanical teacher to fix it. Then he used some tools that completed a fix to the robot and he was able to gear the teacher. He stated that the mechanical teacher’s geography sector was fixed for Margie. The reason behind the bad performance of Margie in geography was the questions that were shown by the mechanical teacher to her was quick for her. Moreover, the questions were repetitive which made her bored to learn geography.

The County Inspector fixed the geography sector of the mechanical teacher and geared it to make it adjustable based on the age of Margie. A quick fix led Margie to grow the satisfaction of learning geography in school with the virtual reality environment. The process followed by the County Inspector was for slowing down the geography sector for a ten-year-level child. He was successful to make a quick fix based on the issues faced by Margie with the mechanical teacher.

Tommy’s description of “Old Kind of School and Teachers”

Tommy seemed to feel excited about the old schools and the learning process. He described the old schools by phrasing them as hundreds and hundreds of years ago. He also added the term centuries ago about the old school. Tommy described that in the old school, all children came across to learn in the same classroom, and there were humans who taught the lessons. During this story, Margie felt more excited by imagining the old classrooms where children could learn a lesson from a human teacher with friends.

Tommy described the old school day’s teacher as an irregular teacher. As they have been going to school and learning lessons from the robots, Tommy believed that human teachers are not regular. He added, it was a man and he believed that his father known well as an old school teacher. The concept of the mechanical teacher made him know that teaching from a man was not regular and not sufficient.

Main Features of the Mechanical Teachers and the Schoolrooms

The mechanical teachers have different features to deliver lessons to the student which was assigned for. It has big black screens to display the questions from lessons to the students and give tests. Mechanical teachers have slots where students can submit their assigned homework. Students need the write a punch code for their answers that let the mechanical teacher calculate the marks.

The school days of Margie and Tommy are fitted at the home. Students do not interact with their classmates and there is no need to attend school outside their homes. Mechanical teachers were available to teach geography, history, and arithmetic.

Reason for Margie Hating School

Margie felt bored in attaining school due to the teaching process followed by the mechanical teacher. Margie’s mechanical teacher was giving her rapid Geography tests and she was scoring badly. She did not submit the homework to her mechanical teacher. She believed that the ancient school days were better due to the presence of classmates and the human as a teacher. For her, learning lessons from humans is way better than a robot. She believed all the children could enjoy learning together.

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

Yes, Margie’s thoughts about the school days are right, it was more fun than before. The old school days were much more charming and the presence of humans was more pleasing for everyone in the school.

The process of learning in the old school system was better as there was the presence of humans and the collaborative nature could allow students to help each other. It was more dynamic to get the lessons from a human rather than a machine. The present method of learning lessons from a robot can make children bored. The enjoyment with the classmates is missing by Tommy and Margie in the present time. The process of taking tests used by the old school teachers was better than in the present time.

FAQs

Q1. Why Margie was regular at school?

Ans. They grew an interest in learning from computers instead of reading books, which also led them to believe that the process is better than reading hard copies.

Q2. What are the issues with mechanical teachers?

Ans. Any mechanism could lead to issues when mechanisms are used in it, and it can make errors while displaying questions. For example, Margie’s mechanical teacher was giving her test repeatedly and even Tommy’s history teacher blanked out.

Q3. What is the role of the County Inspector in the modern schooling system?

Ans. The County Inspector can fix the mechanical teacher. Whenever, a problem appears, the County Inspector gear the mechanical teacher based on the requirement and issue.