Task 1. Watch the video Isaac Asimov on The David Letterman Show, October
21, 1980.
Task 2. Go through the link below and watch the vide Isaac Asimov talks about superstition, religion and why he teaches rationality
Task 3. Think and say whether the video is related to the Text below. Which way?
Task 4. Read the text and write the analysis.
The Fun They Had
Isaac
Asimov (1920-1992)
Margie 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
crankily, 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.
Gee, said Tommy, what a waste. When you’re though
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 had 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 black 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 the most was the slot where she had to put homework and test papers.
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 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
over-all 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 they
had hundreds and hundreds of years 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 nearly 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 to 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 for 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
arithmetical lesson is on the addition of proper fractions. Please insert
yesterday’s homework in the proper slot.
Margie did so with a sigh. She was thinking about
the old schools they had when her grandfather’s grandfather was a boy. All the
kids from the whole neighborhood came, laughing and shouting in the school
yard, 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.
ALONE
1. Read
your extract of the story.
2. Note
down all words/expressions you might like to teach your colleagues.
3. Describe
the setting.
4. List and
describe the characters.
5. Define
the style and technique used in this short story.
6. Be ready
to summarize the extract you read.
7. Be
ready to read it aloud. Check pronunciation. Use a dictionary.
8. Summarize
and read your extract of the story.
9. What is
the story really about? Discuss.
10. Write an ending to this story. Write about 100
words.
KEY / NOTES
|
SETTING
|
May 17, 2155
No schools as we know them; children stay at home
and have mechanical teachers (machines) that explain, check and assess.
Materials and subject-matter set to fit each child individually, and each
child is taught differently. Children ‘communicate’ with teacher by means of
a punch-card which they learn to use at six.
Books are not printed, only on-screen
(tele-books).
|
|
Margie
|
11 years old (but the inspector sets her ‘teacher’
for an average 10-year-old); just a child so has no experience; curious
(wants to find out more about the mysterious book/reads over Tommy’s
shoulder).
Doesn’t like school, hates homework and tests;
looks up to her brother
|
|
Tommy
|
Margie’s friend (probably, he lives in another
house); 13-year-old boy; likes to give himself airs (show off) when Margie is
around; acts superior and patronizing;
|
|
Mother/
Mrs Jones
|
Very strict with ‘school’ timetables; believes you
should learn at regular hours; worries about her daughter’s learning
|
|
Inspector
|
Round lttle man with red face; friendly, pats
Margie’s head; encourages her; tries to boost back confidence back; sets her
teacher so lessons will be easier
|
|
Teacher
|
A machine that sometimes malfunctions/breaks
down/’crashes/goes blank/is not adjusted. Large, black and ugly screen
with a slot to insert punch cards. Made of dials and wires.
|
|
STYLE & TECHNIQUE
|
Informal style. Past tenses mainly – past simple /
past perfect simple and continuous
The narrator conveys the atmosphere and the
naivety of 10-13 year-olds. Simple sentences, mostly dialogue to portray the
atmosphere – and the mind – of children. Interjections (Gee); childish talk
‘My father knows more…’; the thrill of discovering things…
|
|
THEME
|
Set in the future but not really about the future…
The things we take for granted because we don’t
know more; we grow up with them and we don’t even imagine they can be
different;
Also about learning: how do you learn?
And interaction and communication: you need to be
with your peers… (there’s always talk about machines ‘suck life out of you’
SEE BELOW
|
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