The Fun They Had (Extra Credit)

1)What are some of the positive aspects of school in 2157?

• The student marks were calculated very quickly
• The "teacher" lived in the student's house, so they did not have to go to an actual building 
• Each "teacher" is adjusted and teaches a specific boy or girl in a specific way to have the best result out of the individual

2) What do you think would be some of the drawbacks or downsides to school in 2157?

• You are incapable of not handing in papers or tests
• You have to learn a "punch code"
• Your "teacher" can become blank, like Tommie's history teacher did
• They have school on Saturday and Sunday

3) Which version of school do you think would be better? The version you have now, or the version Margie and Tommy have in 2157?

I would prefer to go to school in 2157 because of a few reasons. I like working individually, and studying independently is mandatory in the future school. Also, the teacher is always primarily focused on you, it adapts to the way you learn and makes education easier for you. And finally, you are able to do school on the weekends, which I view as a great improvement, since we can spend more time on learning than wasting our time on nothing during weekends.

The Fun They Had (Extra Credit) - Jihyun Park

The Fun They Had

Isaac Asimov

May 25th, 2014

Extra Credit

Jihyun Park

The Fun They Had is a short story by Isaac Asimov. It is about Margie in 2157. She goes to school but alone. She is taught by a mechanical teacher and reads from telebooks. One day, Tommy finds a book on paper and he tells Margie that in the past, school used to be a place children gathers to learn together from a human teacher. Margie thinks of the fun children in the past had and wishes to go to their school.

1. What are some of the positive aspects of school in 2157?

Some positive aspects of school in 2157 is that each subject is programmed to be most suitable for that particular student. Also, learning system is very organized since the teacher is mechanical, what it means by it is organized is that there are no confuses with assignments and facts, everything is straight forwards and strict. Another positive aspect is that it is almost like home school because you learn at home but you are taught by the mechanical teacher not your parents and not yourself, and also because you don't have to spend time going to school every morning, walking to school or riding a school bus or a car or a bike.

2. What do you think would be some of the drawbacks or downsides to school in 2157?

Some negative aspects of school in 2157 is that you learn alone. Great reason children go to school is their friends. The school can be a very fun place to learn when you are with your friends but without your friends the concept of learning for children is very boring and negative. Also, school is like the place where children learn how to interact with the others and be social. School in 2157 would result children to grow with flimsy social skills and would struggle in the society.

3. Which version of school do you think would be better? The version you have now, or the version Margie and Tommy have in 2157?

I think school today is better than the school in 2157. The reason is because of my friends. Going to school with friends makes it more fun and when you learn with friends, you can help each other. If I go to school in 2157, then I wouldn't be able to meet good friends and make good memories and I would hate learning because it is no fun.

Extra Credit for Kresten Due "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov

"The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov is a short story about Margie and Tommy who have found a book. While this appears to not be much of a ground breaking discovery, it is. That is because it is in fact the year 2157 where there are no more books in production. Books are all e-books on TVs. This book however is written about school which turns out to be very different from now. In their day and age school is a robot which is private for everyone and marks homework in an instant. The two then discuss school and in the end Margie concludes that we had a lot of fun going to school. I for one would agree, however some others may not.

Questions w/ Answers:

1. What are some of the positive aspects of school in 2157?
   
   Answer: The most prominent positive aspect of school is that the robots are specifically tuned to a specific person meaning someone more prominent in mathematics would learn higher level maths than someone who is more prominent in humanities. Another positive aspect is that kids won't have to travel long distances to get to school. An example of long distance travelling is a girl known as Anya Metahrao from my former school (UNIS) who had a two hour commute to school.
   
2. What do you think would be some of the drawbacks or downsides to school in 2157?
   
   Answer: I think a large drawback is the lack of social interaction. This means that people wont meet others when learning which may be bad for social health and would restrict social interactions. Another issue is that the robots need to know every topic and as shown in the short story sometimes the specific sections blank out. This means the robots need to go for maintenance and might infringe learning. The final drawback is that specific or complicated questions with odd wording can't be asked. If I ask Mr. Daws what would happen if... he would be able to answer with knowledge. However, the robot would need that question and answer to be programmed into it. For this drawback to be revoked every hypothetical question would have to be encoded and have a set answer.
   
3. Which version of school do you think would be better? The version you have now, or the version Margie and Tommy have in 2157?
   
   Answer: I personally would prefer our current version of school. This is because we have many teachers and exercise social skills. We also wouldn't give presentations and similar things in 2157. This would prevent a career with usage of rhetoric. Another problem which I mentioned is that robots can't answer specific questions while teachers can. Another nice thing is that we make many friends at school and we couldn't have PE classes with robots. My final reason is that our current day schools also create openings for employment which is never bad.