Short Questions
1. How old are Margie and Tommy?
Answer: Margie is eleven years old and Tommy is thirteen.
2. What did Margie write in her diary?
Answer: She wrote that Tommy found a real book.
3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?
Answer: No, she had never seen a real printed book before.
4. What was strange about the book for Margie?
Answer: The words were still and did not move like the ones on a screen.
5. What is a telebook?
Answer: A telebook is a digital book read on a television or computer screen.
6. Where was Margie’s school?
Answer: Margie’s school was in her own house, next to her bedroom.
7. Did Margie have any classmates?
Answer: No, she studied alone with her mechanical teacher.
8. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
Answer: They studied geography, history, and arithmetic.
9. Who repaired Margie’s mechanical teacher?
Answer: The County Inspector repaired it.
10. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?
Answer: Because Margie was performing badly in geography.
11. What was wrong with the geography sector?
Answer: It was geared too quickly for Margie’s level.
12. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?
Answer: His history sector had blanked out completely.
13. Who were the teachers in old schools?
Answer: They were human teachers, not machines.
14. Why did Margie hate school?
Answer: She hated it because it was boring and the mechanical teacher gave her too many tests.
15. What did Margie think about the old schools?
Answer: She thought the children in old schools must have had a lot of fun learning together.
Long Questions
1. What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and schoolrooms in the story?
Answer: The mechanical teachers were large, black, and had big screens to display lessons and questions. They had slots where students inserted their homework and test papers. The teachers adjusted lessons according to each child’s learning level. Margie’s schoolroom was right next to her bedroom, and she studied alone at regular hours every day except weekends.
2. Why did Margie hate school?
Answer: Margie hated school because her mechanical teacher gave her many tests, especially in geography, which she found very difficult. The lessons were not interesting and she had no classmates to talk to or learn with. Her learning was mechanical and lonely, which made her dislike school even more.
3. What did the County Inspector do to help Margie?
Answer: The County Inspector found that Margie’s geography sector was working too fast. He slowed it down to the average level of a ten-year-old child. He also told her mother that Margie’s overall progress was satisfactory and comforted Margie with a smile and a pat on the head.
4. What kind of school did Tommy describe from the old book?
Answer: Tommy described an old school where children studied together in a special building. There were human teachers who taught boys and girls the same subjects. The students played together, helped one another with homework, and learned face-to-face instead of through machines.
5. How does Tommy describe the old kind of teacher?
Answer: Tommy said the old teachers were men, not machines. They taught the children in classrooms, gave homework, and asked questions. They did not live in the students’ houses but taught many children together in one place.
6. Why did Margie think the old kind of school must have been fun?
Answer: Margie imagined that in the old schools, children laughed and played together in the schoolyard, helped each other with lessons, and talked about their homework. She thought learning with other children and a real teacher must have been much more enjoyable than studying alone with a machine.
7. Compare the old school and Margie’s school.
Answer: The old school had human teachers, and students learned together in one building. They shared ideas and played with each other. Margie’s school, on the other hand, was at home with a mechanical teacher and no classmates. The lessons were done on screens, and the learning process was lonely and dull.
8. What does the story tell us about the future of education?
Answer: The story suggests that in the future, technology will control education. Learning will take place through machines, and books will disappear. While this may make education efficient, it may also take away the joy and warmth of learning together in a human environment.
9. What is the message of the story “The Fun They Had”?
Answer: The story highlights that human interaction and shared experiences make learning enjoyable. It warns that a future dominated by machines might make education dull and lifeless, missing the emotional and social connections that real schools provide.
10. How does the story make us value our schools today?
Answer: The story makes us appreciate our schools because we have friends, human teachers, and shared activities. It reminds us that learning together in a natural, interactive environment is more meaningful and enjoyable than studying alone with machines.
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