THE FUN THEY HAD
by Isaac Asimov

Margie even wrote about it in her diary. On the page of May 17, 2155, she wrote, “Today Tommy found a real book!”
It was an old book. Margie’s grandfather said that when he was a little boy his grandfather told him that there was a time when stories were printed on paper.
They turned the pages. They were yellow. It was funny to read words that stood still instead of moving on a screen.
“Where did you find it?” said Margie.
“In the house.” He was busy reading.
“What’s it about?”
“School.”
“School? What’s there to write about school? I hate school.” Margie always hated school, but now she hated it more than ever. The mechanical teacher gave her test after test in geography.
So, she said to Tommy, “Why would anyone write about school?”
Tommy looked at her. “Because this is the old kind of school that they had hundreds and hundreds of years ago.”
“Well, I don’t know what kind of school they had.” She read the book over his shoulder, and then said, “Anyway, they had a teacher.”
“Sure, they had a teacher. It was a man.”
“A man? How could a man be a teacher? A man isn’t smart enough.”
“Sure, he is. Father knows as much as my teacher. 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.
Margie’s mother called, “Margie! School!”
Margie went into the schoolroom. It was near her bedroom, and the mechanical teacher was on and waiting for her. It was always on at the same time every day except Saturday and Sunday.
The screen said: “Today’s arithmetic lesson is on…”
Margie thought about the old schools they had when her grandfather’s grandfather was a little boy. All the kids from the whole neighborhood came, laughing and shouting in the schoolyard, sitting together in the schoolroom, going home together. And the teachers were people... Margie thought about the fun they had.

SCHOOL JOKES