"The Fun They Had" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

story by American writer

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

. It first appeared in a children's newspaper in 1951 and was reprinted in the February 1954 issue of ''

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...

'', ''

Earth Is Room Enough ''Earth Is Room Enough'' is a collection of fifteen short science fiction and fantasy stories and two pieces of comic verse by American writer Isaac Asimov, published in 1957. In his autobiography ''In Joy Still Felt'', Asimov wrote, "I was sti ...

'' (1957), ''50 Short Science Fiction Tales'' (1960), and ''

The Best of Isaac Asimov ''The Best of Isaac Asimov'' is a collection of twelve science fiction short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov, published by Sphere in 1973. It begins with a short introduction (six pages in the Doubleday hardcover edition) giving vario ...

'' (1973). Written as a personal favor for a friend, "The Fun They Had" became "probably the biggest surprise of my literary career", Asimov wrote in 1973. He reported that it had been reprinted more than 30 times with more being planned. It is about computerized homeschooling, and what children miss out on by not being in school together. He surmised that the story was popular with children because "the kids would get a bang out of the irony."

Summary

Set in the year 2155, when children learn individually at home using a mechanical teacher (robotic teacher), the story tells of 11-year-old Margie Jones, whose neighbor Tommy finds a real book in the attic of his house. This reminds Margie of the stories her grandfather used to tell about the earlier school days. The book tells about a time when children used to learn in a group of the same age of students in large schools that were not merely designated rooms in private houses as in Margie and Tommy's time. Margie and Tommy discuss what it must have been like to study together with a real person as a teacher, and though at first Margie is skeptical about the notion, by the end of the story she daydreams while sitting on the chair before the mechanical teacher about what it must have been like for "the fun they had".

References

External links

The Fun They Had: short story by Isaac Asimov
at Sussex Middle School (New Brunswick, Canada)'s site
"The Fun They Had"
''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...

'' Vol. 6, No. 2, February 1954, pp. 125-7, at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fun They Had, The Short stories by Isaac Asimov 1951 short stories Science fiction short stories Works originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Short stories set in the 22nd century