FUN THEY HAD: QUESTION ANSWERS

 

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

1. How old are Margie and Tommy?
2. What did Margie write in her diary?
3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?
4. What things about the book did she find strange?
5. What do you think a telebook is?
6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
7. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?

Answer:

1. Margie is eleven year old and Tommy is thirteen year old.
2. Margie wrote, “Today Tommy found a real book!”.
3. No, Margie had never seen a book before.
4. Margie found it strange that the book had yellow and wrinkled pages. Words in the book were still and did not move the way they were supposed to on a screen.
5. A book that can be displayed on a screen is called a telebook.
6. Margie’s school was in her home itself, right next to her bedroom. No, she did not have any classmates.

1. “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?

Answer:

(i) Tommy says these words.

(ii) 'It' refers to the old book.

(iii) Tommy is comparing the television screen with the printed books of earlier times. He thought that after reading such books, one would have to throw them away. However, he would never throw away his telebook.

2. “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?

Answer:

(i) They refer to the students who studied in the old kind of schools, centuries before the time the story is set in.
(ii) Here, 'regular' refers to the mechanical teachers that Tommy and Margie had.
(iii) The mechanical teacher is contrasted with the teacher of the earlier times, who was a human being.

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

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

Answer: Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers with large black screens on which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked. These mechanical teachers had a slot in which the students had to put their homework and test papers. They didn’t have a living human being as a teacher who would teach the students in a classroom.

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

Answer: Margie’s mother sent for the County Inspector because the mechanical teacher was not functioning efficiently. Margie had been given many tests in geography by the teacher, but there was no improvement in her performance. So, Margie’s mother wanted to find out the reason behind it.

3. What did he do?

Answer: Margie was doing badly in geography because the geography sector of the mechanical teacher had been adjusted at a higher level. In order to help her, the County Inspector slowed down the geography sector to an average ten-year level.

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

Answer: Margie was doing badly in geography because the geography sector of the mechanical teacher had been adjusted at a higher level. In order to help her, the County Inspector slowed down the geography sector of the mechanical teacher to an average ten-year level.

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

Answer: Once, Tommy’s teacher was taken away for nearly a month because its history sector had blanked out completely.

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

Answer:  Yes, Margie had regular days and hours for school because her mother believed that learning at regular hours helped little girls learn better. So, her mechanical teacher always turned on at the same time every day except on Saturdays and Sundays.

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

Answer: Tommy says that the old kind of school had a special building and all the kids went there. They had a teacher, who was a man. They all studied together and learned the same thing.

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

Answer: Tommy describes the old kind of teachers as living human beings who did not live in the house. Instead, they taught the students in a special building. They taught the children in groups and gave them homework.

IV. 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?

Answer: Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They had large black screens on which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked. These teachers were adjusted according to the age and potential of the student concerned. They had a slot in which students had to put their homework and test papers. They had to write their answers in a punch code and the mechanical teacher calculated the marks immediately. Their schools were in their homes itself. They did not have any classmates. They had regular days and hours for school. The mechanical teacher always turned on at the same time every day except Saturdays and Sundays. They learned geography, history and arithmetic.

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

Answer: Margie hated school because it was not fun. She had a mechanical teacher who used to teach her every day at a fixed time in her house. She hated the part when she had to insert the homework and test papers in the slot on the mechanical teacher. She did not like the fact that she had to write her answers in a punch code. Her disliking for the mechanical teacher was increased even more when she was failing to perform well in the geography tests.

She thought that the old kind of school must have been fun as she imagined all the kids from the entire neighbourhood coming together, laughing and shouting in the schoolyard. She imagined that they would sit together in the classroom and go home together at the end of the day. They would learn the same things and could help one another with the homework. Also, the teachers were human beings that would make the learning process more interactive. All these aspects made her believe that the old kind of school must have been fun.

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

Answer: Yes, I strongly agree with Margie that schools today are more fun than the school in the story. In the story, teaching is done mechanically inside a learner's house itself. Studying and answering questions in the absence of classmates seems to be a boring idea. Writing homework in punch codes and that too without anybody’s help would be really exhausting.  

A mechanical teacher has no emotions and sentiments. It does not have the ability to understand the psychology of a student rather it teaches him/her according to its adjusted modes. But in today’s schools, there are teachers who are the real human beings. They are more understanding and accommodating than mechanical ones. They work for the overall development of a child. Moreover, children develop a better understanding about each other and of their surroundings when accompanied by the students of their age. Another major advantage of today’s schools is that if any student faces any problem with the subject or in homework then he/she can discuss it with the teacher and other kids in the class. It is impossible to do such discussions with a mechanical teacher. In today’s schools, kids learn various qualities like sharing, respect, obedience, kindness, etc. They are encouraged to take part in games, sports, and other activities which are necessary for the overall development of a student. Thus, all these factors prove that schools today are more fun than the school in the story.

Thinking about Language

1. Find the sentences in the lesson which have the adverbs given in the box below.

Awfully   sorrowfully   completely   loftily Carefully   differently   quickly   nonchalantly

Answer:

• Awfully: 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.
• Sorrowfully: 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.
• Completely: They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely.
• Loftily: He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”
• Differently: “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.”
• Quickly: “I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Margie said quickly.
• Nonchalantly: “May be,” he said nonchalantly.
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• 2. Now use these adverbs to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.

  (i) The report must be read _____________ so that performance can be improved.
  (ii) At the interview, Sameer answered our questions _____________ , shrugging his shoulders.
  (iii) We all behave ________________  when we are tired or hungry.
  (iv) The teacher shook her head ____________ when Ravi lied to her.
  (v) I __________ forgot about it.
  (vi) When I complimented Revathi on her success, she just smiled ___________ and turned away.
  (vii) The President of the Company is _____________ busy and will not be able to meet you.
  (viii) I finished my work __________________ so that I could go out to play.

  Answer:

  (i) carefully
  (ii)  loftily
  (iii) differently
  (iv) sorrowfully
  (v) completely
  (vi) nonchalantly
  (vii) awfully
  (viii) quickly

• 3. Make adverbs from these adjectives.

  (i) angry ___________
  (ii) happy __________
  (iii) merry___________
  (iv) sleepy __________
  (v) easy ____________
  (vi) noisy ___________
  (vii) tidy ___________
  (viii) gloomy ________

  Answer:

  Required adverbs are as follows:
  (i) Angrily
  (ii) Happily
  (iii) Merrily
  (iv) Sleepily
  (v) Easily
  (vi) Noisily
  (vii) Tidily
  (viii) Gloomily

  II. Complete the following conditional sentences. Use the correct form of the verb.

  1. If I don’t go to Anu’s party tonight, __________
  2. If you don’t telephone the hotel to order food, __________
  3. Unless you promise to write back, I __________
  4. If she doesn’t play any games, ___________
  5. Unless that little bird flies away quickly, the cat ___________

  Answer:

  1. If I don’t go to Anu’s party tonight, she will be angry.
  2. If you don’t telephone the hotel to order food, you will miss your evening meal.
  3. Unless you promise to write back, I will not write to you.
  4. If she doesn’t play any games, she will become lazy and unfit.
  5. Unless that little bird flies away quickly, the cat will pounce on it.

• EXTRA QS & AS

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  The Fun They Had Extra Questions and Answers Short Answer Type

  Question 1.
  Who are Margie and Tommy? How old are they?
  Answer:
  Margie and Tommy are students from the year 2157. Tommy is a thirteen-year-old boy and Margie is an eleven-year-old girl. Both are neighbours and good friends who like to spend time together like children of their age usually do.

  Question 2.
  What did Margie write in her diary?
  Answer:
  On 17 May 2157 Margie recorded in her diary about the discovery of a “real” book by Tommy. It was a very old book printed on paper and had yellow and crinkly pages, unlike the telebooks of the twenty-second century.

  Question 3.
  Where had Tommy found the book? How was it different from the books Margie and Tommy were used to?
  Answer:
  Tommy found a real book in the attic of his house. The book was at least two hundred years old so pages had turned yellow and crinkly. It was a different from the books Margie and Tommy were used to because they had teiebooks to read from while the book Tommy found was printed on paper.

  Question 4.
  Had Margie ever seen a real book before? Did she know about such books?
  Answer:
  No, Margie had never seen a book before till she saw the one Tommy found in the attic of his house. She had only heard about books from her grandfather who himself had not seen any. He too had heard about a printed book from his own grandfather.

  Question 5.
  What things about the book did Margie and Tommy find strange?
  Answer:
  Margie and Tommy read telebooks where words moved on a screen. Books were stored in a machine that could store a million books on it and still be good for plenty more. So they found it strange that the words in the printed book remained fixed unlike the moving ones on their television screen.

  Question 6.
  “What a waste!” What is Tommy referring to as a ‘waste’? Is it really a waste? Why/Why not?
  Answer:
  Tommy thought the paper book he found in his attic with words that were printed and did not move was a waste. Once a book had been read, it became useless and must be thrown away because it had the same content.

  Yes: Printed books are a waste as telebooks are more accessible. They can be stored in a television and read again and again. They occupy very little space as compared to the printed books and need not be discarded once they have been read. In addition, paper books consume resources like trees from which paper is made and water that is consumed in the process of making paper.

  No: Printed books are not a waste as they can be read by many people over and over again and can be preserved for future generations. Moreover, the data in a telebook can be lost or stolen, but in a printed book, the data printed on a page remains forever.

  Question 7.
  What do you think a telebook is?
  Answer:
  A telebook is a book made available in text on a television screen. Many books can be stored and read in this manner. (The telebook is the author’s imagined version of an e-book as this story was written in 1951, long before their advent.)

  Question 8.
  Did Margie like the printed book? Why/Why not?
  Answer:
  Margie was really excited to see the ‘real’ book Tommy found as it was unlike the telebooks the two were used to reading. It was such a novelty that she recorded the discovery in her diary. As she turned the yellow and crinkly pages of the book with Tommy, she found it quite fascinating, unlike Tommy who found it a waste. In fact, she was really reluctant to stop reading the book and go to study. She wanted to read the book again after school.

  Question 9.
  Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
  Answer:
  Margie’s school was a room next to her bedroom in her house. No, she did not have any classmates as her school was a customised school, set up exclusively for her according to her level and needs.

  Question 10.
  What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have? How were they different from teachers in the book?
  Answer:
  Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers, which were large and black and ugly, with a big screen on which all the lessons were shown and the questions were asked. There was a slot where they had to put homework and test papers and the mechanical teacher calculated the marks in no time. Margie and Tommy’s teachers were different from the teachers in the book as the teachers in the book were men and not mechanical teachers.

  Question 11.
  Why had Margie started hating her school?
  Answer:
  Margie never liked school. But lately she had come to hate it more than ever because of her poor performance in geography. The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in the subject and she had been doing worse and worse.

  Question 12.
  How were Margie and Tommy assessed in their subjects?
  Answer:
  Margie and Tommy were given assignments by their mechanical teachers. They wrote their answers in a punch code they were trained in. Then they inserted their special answer sheets in the slot in the mechanical teacher. The teacher corrected their assignments and calculated their marks in no time.

  Question 13.
  What did Margie hate the most about her school?
  Answer:
  The part that Margie hated most about her school was the slot where she had to put homework and test papers. She always had to write them in a punch code that she was made to learn at the age of six. The mechanical teacher calculated her marks in no time leaving no time for Margie to relax after submitting the assigned tasks.

  Question 14.
  Write a brief note on Margie’s school routine.
  Answer:
  Although Margie was taught by a large black television screen installed in a room next to her bedroom, Margie followed a strict routine and had regular days and hours for school. She studied from Monday to Friday at the same time every day as her mother thought that young girls learnt things better if they studied them at regular hours.

  Question 15.
  Margie’s mother was very particular about her studies. Justify with evidence from the story.
  Answer:
  Margie’s mother was very particular about her studies and made sure that Margie attended her tele-school regularly and at fixed times as she felt little girls learned better if they learned at regular hours. She took a keen interest in Margie’s performance and when she felt she was not doing too well in a particular subject, she called the County Inspector to have a look at the mechanical teacher.

  Question 16.
  Who was the County Inspector? What did he do to improve Margie’s performance?
  Answer:
  The County Inspector was a technical expert who identified and rectified errors in the functioning of the mechanical teachers. When the County Inspector examined the working of Margie’s mechanical teacher, he found that the geography sector had been geared too quick. He slowed it up to an average 10-years level. He found the overall pattern of Margie quite satisfactory.

  Question 17.
  Write a brief note on the County Inspector.
  Answer:
  The County Inspector was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and wires. He was certainly a kind-hearted man and he put Margie at ease by giving her an apple and telling her mother that if Margie was not performing well, it was not her fault, but the fault of the mechanical teacher. He aligned the speed of the geography sector keeping in mind the level of the girl. Before leaving, he patted Margie on the head and expressed satisfaction at her performance.

  Question 18.
  Why was Margie not doing well in geography? What did the County Inspector do to help her?
  Answer:
  Margie was not doing well in geography. In fact, her performance was getting worse day by day. Her mother sent for the County Inspector to look into the problem. He told Mrs Jones that the geography sector in Margie’s mechanical teacher was geared up a little too quick for her and that he had slowed it up to the level of an average ten-year-old.

  Question 19.
  Why did Margie get disappointed after the geography sector of her teacher was set right?
  Answer:
  Margie’s mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and her mother had asked the County Inspector to look into it. Margie had hoped that her mechanical teacher would be taken away for some time as Tommy’s had been when it had malfunctioned. But she was disappointed when the County Inspector set the mechanical teacher right there and then.

  Question 20.
  What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?
  Answer:
  Once, Tommy’s mechanical teacher had developed a fault and its history sector had blanked out absolutely. The teacher had to be taken away for repairs and it had taken almost a month to put it in order.

  Question 21.
  What does Tommy tell Margie about the old kind of school?
  Answer:
  Tommy describes the old school as a special building where all the children went to study together. Students of the same age-group were taught the same things which by human teachers. These teachers taught various things to boys and girls, gave them homework and also asked them questions.

  Question 22.
  What was Margie’s reaction when Tommy told her that twentieth-century schools had human teachers?
  Answer:
  When Margie heard Tommy mention that children were taught by human teachers in the times gone by, she could not believe the truth of Tommy’s statement. She believed that a human teacher could not match the mechanical teacher in intelligence and knowledge. This was because she had been taught by a mechanical teacher and had never seen any human teacher.

  Question 23.
  Why could Margie and Tommy finish reading the book Tommy found?
  Answer:
  When Margie and Tommy were reading the book Tommy had found in his attic, Margie’s mother interrupted them and told Margie to go to her schoolroom to study. She even suggested Tommy too went to attend school.

  Question 24.
  What did the teacher teach Margie when she went to her school?
  Answer:
  When Margie went to school the mechanical teacher taught an arithmetic lesson on the addition of proper fractions. It taught her how to add the fractions xh and 1/4.

  Question 25.
  Why was Margie not able to concentrate on the Arithmetic lesson?
  Answer:
  Margie could not concentrate on the arithmetic lesson because her mind was pre-occupied with the thoughts about the school that Tommy had just described her. She was fascinated by the fact that in olden days 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. They learned the same things, so they could help one another with the homework and talk about it.

  Question 26.
  Why did Margie think that children in olden days had fun while studying in school?
  Answer:
  Margie attended a tele-school, which was just a machine in the room next to her bedroom and she studied alone unlike the students of the schools in the bygone times. She found her present school much too mechanical, boring, monotonous and demanding, and she hated it. She felt that learning was more fun in those days because hundreds of children had the opportunity of congregating and studying together with the help of human teachers and printed books. Schools were large buildings where students learned the same things, so they could help one another with the homework and talk about it.

  The Fun They Had Extra Questions and Answers Long Answer Type

  Question 1.
  How did Margie and Tommy react to the book Tommy found in his attic? Why?
  Answer:
  Margie and Tommy were neighbours and friends. They lived in 2157, in an age of technology when going to school meant sitting in a room by oneself, being taught by a mechanical teacher that was adjusted to fit the learner’s mind and reading from a telebook with moving words.

  Then on the Then one da7 May 2157, Tommy found an old paper book wit yellow and crinkled pages fn the attic of his house. He shared the exciting news with his friend Margie and together they are wonderstruck, for they had before that never seen or heard about a book that had no screen but only fixed text on pages.

  The book was quite different from the tele-books they were used to. As Margie and Tommy read the book, they were amazed by its contents. They discovered that hundreds of years ago schools were huge buildings where hundreds of children went to study and where children of the same age studied together and carried out the same activities and tasks. They were taught by real human teachers with the help of real books.

  Question 2.
  Describe the old school as described in the book? How did it influence Margie?
  Answer:
  The book which Tommy found was about school. However, it was not the kind of school Margie and Tommy were used to, but the old kind of schools that were there hundreds and hundreds of years ago. School was a special building and all the kids went there. Children went to these schools to study and were taught by a ‘regular’ teacher, a man who told the boys and girls things and gave them homework and asked them questions.

  At school, all children of the same age studied together and carried out the same activities and tasks. Margie thought about the old kind of school. She was thinking about 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. They learned the same things, so they could help one another with the homework and talk about it. Margie thought about the old school system and how much fun the children must have had, learning and spending time together.

  Question 3.
  Write a short note on the school system in “The Fun They Had”.
  Answer:
  Margie and Tommy are young school going children in the year 2157. Schools and teachers in the twenty- second century are entirely different from the ones in present day. Margie and Tommy’s school is not in a separate special building but a room in their respective houses where the television or the mechanical teacher is placed. Each student has to sit and study alone with the help of mechanical teacher, a large and black and ugly machine, with a big screen on which all the lessons are shown and the questions are asked.

  The ‘teacher’ assigns tests to the students and assesses their progress. The speed of the different subject sectors is fixed according to the age level of each student. There is a special slot in the tele-teacher where students have to insert their homework or tests. If the mechanical teacher develops any fault, there are engineers to repair it.

  Sometimes the fault may be a major one and it takes long to repair it, as was the case when Tommy’s history teacher developed a snag and it took a month to repair it. Thus, the mechanical teachers and schoolrooms of Margie and Tommy are fully computerised and are completely different from the present day schools.

  Question 4.
  Do you agree that schools today are better than the schools in the story ‘The Fun They Had’. Give reasons for your choice.
  Answer:
  Yes: In the story The Fun They Had writer Isaac Asimov talks about the schools of the future. In this future, school is a room in the house where each child is taught by a mechanical teacher and there are telebooks on television screens.

  After reading the story, I think that we pupils in the present should be satisfied. I agree an individual teacher for each child can work better and more intensively with the pupil and when the parents set the school time a child can have flexible school hours. If the school(room) is at home, the children do not have to walk or drive so far and this saves time and money.

  But on the other hand, we lose an opportunity for social contacts. The most important advantage we have today is we have contact with other kids, in the breaks we can talk to each other and we have fun with them. Pupils solve problems together – very important for the later life and the development of a child. And a human teacher is definitely a better educator than a machine because he knows the problems of humans and children. A machine will never be able to feel like a human. Moreover, a human teacher can provide valuable guidance and values that a mechanical teacher cannot.

  No: The Fun They Had by Isaac Asimov is a science-fiction story schooling in the twenty-second century. Margie, an eleven-year-old girl, and Tommy, who is thirteen, live in the year 2157, where school means learning from a machine teacher at home. Both kids have never seen a printed book, because they read telebooks.

  The author shows us how school could be in two hundred years, when everything is managed by computers and other technology. In his story, in spite of the advances in technology, the two children are still like kids today. Isaac Assimov shows very clearly the typical behaviour of an eleven-year-old girl and a thirteen-year- old boy, so in his story their characters are not influenced by the technical advancement.

  An advantage of a mechanical teacher is that the mechanical teacher can be geared to the mental level of the student. Thus, it becomes easier for the child to understand the lessons. Different styles of learning of students can be addressed using mechanical teacher and technology. Mechanical teachers can analyze the specific mistakes that students make and give instant feedback which would prove helpful for the students.

  Question 5.
  Do you think Asimov is warning us about the dangers of too much computerisation?
  Answer:
  In his short story “The Fun They Had” Isaac Asimov depicts the school system in 2157 which is based on technical advancement. Thirteen-year-old Tommy and eleven-year-old girl Margie both study with a computer teacher at home. While the individual teaching can train the personal talents and it is a perfect way to give every child knowledge and information baed on the child’s capacity, but there are some disadvantages, too.

  Pupils do not learn like a computer. Learning has to be fun, otherwise the probability of forgetting is higher. Another disadvantage is that there are no social relationships like at school today. Learning with friends at school can be a motivation. Students improve their communication skills and their behaviour in a group. A mechanical teacher cannot give moral values to the children.

  I think Asimov is trying to warn us that the school system which is being followed in 2157 is a good way of giving children knowledge and information for jobs, but it is not good at giving ability for interpersonal relationships. In my opinion the disadvantages are more serious than the advantages and I feel this is a warning given by Isaac Asimov that this kind of schooling may not, in fact, be an ideal option for students.