The Fun They Had

The Fun They Had

"The Fun They Had" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It is a story of an eleven years old girl in the year 2175 - Margie Jones - whose friend Tommy, who isthirteen, has found an old fashioned book with pages that always say the same thing, unlike the computer screens she is used to: "They turned the pages which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funnyto read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to - on a screen." Tommy tells Margie that in the old days, teachers were not computerized instruction machines, like sheis used to, but were humans who could teach students by telling them things. Tommy further explains that in the old days students were not taught in their homes, but gathered together in specialbuildings called schools; where the human teachers would teach her computer teacher is too difficult for her. While she has to do an arithmetic lesson, "she was thinking about the fun they had" and imaginesthem laughing and shouting with the entire neighborhood, sitting together in the schoolhouse, going home together. Learning the same subjects, they could share with each other, help each other. Howhappy that must have made those children…

In his story Asimov is setting a comparison between our ordinary life in which computers and computerized machines are playing a secondary or let us say anadjuvant role; and an imaginary future life in which computers have gained a principle, substantial and indispensable role in the life of the humans to the extent of replacing them in one of the mostvital fields of life; i.e. TEACHING.

In my opinion computers and computerized machines can only replace "humans" in the fields of life that do not comprise human interaction and need no respect ofthe human feelings, intellectual differences and capabilities. And this point of view is highlighted in Asimov's short story.  
This story is a strong children’s story about the value of the...