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Reading 2. 2 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:10,120 The Fun They Had by Isaac Asimov from Earth is Room Enough. 3 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,760 Margie even wrote about it that night in her diary. 4 00:00:15,740 --> 00:00:20,500 On the page headed May 17, 2157, she wrote, 5 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,360 Today Tommy found a real book. 6 00:00:26,300 --> 00:00:28,780 It was a very old book. 7 00:00:28,780 --> 00:00:32,860 Margie's grandfather once said that when he was a little boy, 8 00:00:33,300 --> 00:00:35,960 his grandfather told him that there was a time 9 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,340 when all stories were printed on paper. 10 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,940 They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, 11 00:00:44,380 --> 00:00:47,680 and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still 12 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,160 instead of moving the way that they were supposed to, 13 00:00:50,540 --> 00:00:51,540 on a screen, you know. 14 00:00:52,220 --> 00:00:55,460 And then, when they had turned back to the page before, 15 00:00:55,460 --> 00:00:58,640 it had the same words on it that it had had 16 00:00:58,640 --> 00:00:58,760 when it was printed on paper. 17 00:00:58,780 --> 00:01:00,060 And then they read it the first time. 18 00:01:01,260 --> 00:01:04,560 Gee, said Tommy, what a waste. 19 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,300 When you're through with the book, you just throw it away, I guess. 20 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:11,860 Our television screen must have had a million books on it, 21 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:13,320 and it's good for plenty more. 22 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:15,140 I wouldn't throw it away. 23 00:01:16,020 --> 00:01:18,120 Same with mine, said Margie. 24 00:01:18,820 --> 00:01:22,220 She was 11 and hadn't seen as many books as Tommy had. 25 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:23,740 He was 13. 26 00:01:25,020 --> 00:01:27,700 She said, where did you find it? 27 00:01:28,780 --> 00:01:29,380 In my house. 28 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:32,740 He pointed without looking, because he was busy reading. 29 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:34,280 In the attic. 30 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:36,420 What's it about? 31 00:01:37,620 --> 00:01:38,220 School. 32 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:41,100 Margie was scornful. 33 00:01:42,340 --> 00:01:42,980 School? 34 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:45,380 What's there to write about school? 35 00:01:45,500 --> 00:01:46,440 I hate school. 36 00:01:48,970 --> 00:01:50,750 Margie had always hated school, 37 00:01:51,030 --> 00:01:52,910 but now she hated it more than ever. 38 00:01:53,650 --> 00:01:57,150 The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test 39 00:01:57,150 --> 00:02:00,350 in geography, and she had been doing worse and worse, 40 00:02:00,410 --> 00:02:03,070 until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully 41 00:02:03,070 --> 00:02:05,310 and sent for the county inspector. 42 00:02:06,490 --> 00:02:08,910 He was a round little man with a red face 43 00:02:08,910 --> 00:02:11,870 and a whole box of tools with dials and wires. 44 00:02:12,570 --> 00:02:14,850 He smiled at Margie and gave her an apple, 45 00:02:15,310 --> 00:02:17,010 then took the teacher apart. 46 00:02:18,330 --> 00:02:20,850 Margie hoped he wouldn't know how to put it together again, 47 00:02:21,290 --> 00:02:22,630 but he knew how all right, 48 00:02:22,930 --> 00:02:25,650 and after an hour or so, there it was again, 49 00:02:26,110 --> 00:02:28,510 large and square and ugly, 50 00:02:28,510 --> 00:02:30,390 with a big screen on which she wrote, 51 00:02:30,390 --> 00:02:31,870 which all the lessons were shown 52 00:02:31,870 --> 00:02:33,270 and the questions were asked. 53 00:02:34,190 --> 00:02:35,390 That wasn't so bad. 54 00:02:36,030 --> 00:02:38,770 The part Margie hated most was the slot 55 00:02:38,770 --> 00:02:40,990 where she had to put homework and test papers. 56 00:02:41,870 --> 00:02:44,150 She always had to write them out in a punch code 57 00:02:44,150 --> 00:02:46,330 they made her learn when she was six years old, 58 00:02:46,330 --> 00:02:50,010 and the mechanical teacher calculated the mark in no time. 59 00:02:51,610 --> 00:02:53,810 The inspector had smiled after he was finished 60 00:02:53,810 --> 00:02:55,230 and patted Margie's head. 61 00:02:56,130 --> 00:02:57,010 He said to her mother, 62 00:02:57,650 --> 00:02:59,810 It's not the little girl's fault, Mrs. Jones. 63 00:02:59,810 --> 00:03:03,570 I think the geography sector was geared a little too quick. 64 00:03:04,290 --> 00:03:05,730 Those things happen sometimes. 65 00:03:06,190 --> 00:03:08,230 I've slowed it up to a ten-year level. 66 00:03:08,890 --> 00:03:12,730 Actually, the overall pattern of her progress is quite satisfactory. 67 00:03:13,610 --> 00:03:15,770 And he patted Margie's head again. 68 00:03:17,330 --> 00:03:18,490 Margie was disappointed. 69 00:03:19,370 --> 00:03:22,630 She had been hoping they would take the teacher away altogether. 70 00:03:23,470 --> 00:03:26,470 They had once taken Tommy's teacher away for nearly a month 71 00:03:26,470 --> 00:03:29,530 because the history sector had blanked out completely. 72 00:03:30,530 --> 00:03:31,930 So she said to Tommy, 73 00:03:32,690 --> 00:03:35,070 Why would anyone write about school? 74 00:03:36,270 --> 00:03:39,430 Tommy looked at her with very superior eyes. 75 00:03:40,130 --> 00:03:43,030 Because it's not our kind of school, stupid. 76 00:03:43,350 --> 00:03:45,610 This is the old kind of school 77 00:03:45,610 --> 00:03:48,070 that they had hundreds and hundreds of years ago. 78 00:03:49,150 --> 00:03:52,030 He added loftily, pronouncing the word very carefully, 79 00:03:52,770 --> 00:03:54,410 Centuries ago. 80 00:03:55,810 --> 00:03:56,830 Margie was hurt. 81 00:03:57,790 --> 00:03:59,790 Well, I don't know what kind of school they had, 82 00:03:59,790 --> 00:04:00,970 all that time ago. 83 00:04:01,570 --> 00:04:04,210 She read the book over his shoulder for a while, 84 00:04:04,570 --> 00:04:05,190 then said, 85 00:04:05,770 --> 00:04:07,530 Anyway, they had a teacher. 86 00:04:08,670 --> 00:04:10,170 Sure, they had a teacher. 87 00:04:10,590 --> 00:04:12,250 But it wasn't a regular teacher. 88 00:04:12,810 --> 00:04:13,710 It was a man. 89 00:04:14,470 --> 00:04:15,450 A man? 90 00:04:15,930 --> 00:04:17,650 How could a man be a teacher? 91 00:04:18,750 --> 00:04:21,690 Well, he just told the boys and girls things 92 00:04:21,690 --> 00:04:24,150 and gave them homework and asked them questions. 93 00:04:24,930 --> 00:04:26,830 A man isn't smart enough. 94 00:04:27,750 --> 00:04:28,750 Sure he is. 95 00:04:28,750 --> 00:04:28,830 Yes. 96 00:04:29,790 --> 00:04:37,410 other knows as much as my teacher. He can't. A man can't know as much as a teacher. He knows almost 97 00:04:37,410 --> 00:04:44,870 as much, I betcha. Margie wasn't prepared to dispute that. She said, I wouldn't want a strange 98 00:04:44,870 --> 00:04:52,510 man in my house to teach me. Tommy screamed with laughter. You don't know much, Margie. 99 00:04:52,950 --> 00:04:58,470 The teachers didn't live in the house. They had a special building, and all the kids went there. 100 00:04:59,790 --> 00:05:08,870 And all the kids learned the same thing? Sure, if they were the same age. But my mother says a 101 00:05:08,870 --> 00:05:14,470 teacher has to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches, and that each kid has to 102 00:05:14,470 --> 00:05:20,730 be taught differently. Just the same, they didn't do it that way then. If you don't like it, you 103 00:05:20,730 --> 00:05:27,750 don't have to read the book. I didn't say I didn't like it, Margie said quickly. She wanted to read 104 00:05:27,750 --> 00:05:29,190 about those funny schools. 105 00:05:29,790 --> 00:05:38,190 They weren't even half finished when Margie's mother called, Margie, school. Margie looked up. 106 00:05:38,890 --> 00:05:47,670 Not yet, Mama. Now, said Mrs. Jones, and it's probably time for Tommy, too. Margie said to Tommy, 107 00:05:47,670 --> 00:05:55,170 can I read the book some more with you after school? Maybe, he said nonchalantly. He walked 108 00:05:55,170 --> 00:05:58,930 away whistling, the dusty old book tucked beneath his arm. 109 00:05:59,790 --> 00:06:05,490 Margie went into the schoolroom. It was right next to her bedroom, and the mechanical teacher 110 00:06:05,490 --> 00:06:11,670 was on and waiting for her. It was always on at the same time every day, except Saturday and Sunday, 111 00:06:12,050 --> 00:06:16,270 because her mother said little girls learned better if they learned at regular hours. 112 00:06:17,290 --> 00:06:23,290 The screen was lit up, and it said, Today's arithmetic lesson is on the addition of proper 113 00:06:23,290 --> 00:06:27,310 fractions. Please insert yesterday's homework in the proper slot. 114 00:06:28,710 --> 00:06:29,770 Margie did so. She said, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't 115 00:06:29,790 --> 00:06:30,510 know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. 116 00:06:30,510 --> 00:06:36,830 She was thinking about the old schools they had when her grandfather's grandfather was a little boy. 117 00:06:37,930 --> 00:06:42,810 All the kids from the whole neighborhood came, laughing and shouting in the schoolyard, 118 00:06:43,270 --> 00:06:47,170 sitting together in the schoolroom, going home together at the end of the day. 119 00:06:47,890 --> 00:06:52,950 They learned the same things, so they could help one another on the homework and talk about it. 120 00:06:53,630 --> 00:06:56,710 And the teachers were people. 121 00:06:56,710 --> 00:07:01,190 The mechanical teacher was flashing on the screen. 122 00:07:01,930 --> 00:07:04,730 When we add the fractions one-half and one-quarter, 123 00:07:06,070 --> 00:07:10,290 Margie was thinking about how the kids must have loved it in the old days. 124 00:07:11,290 --> 00:07:14,410 She was thinking of the fun they had.