The Fun They Had Summary & Notes - CBSE Class 9 English Beehive

Summary of The Fun They Had

Chapter 1 of the Class 9 English textbook ‘Beehive’ consists of a prose piece – The Fun They Had. It is a story about how computers will play a significant role in the future. Traditional schools would be replaced by virtual classrooms, and a mechanical teacher would teach a student instead of a human class teacher. Will the students in the future enjoy virtual classes? That is something to think about. Read the prose summary in CBSE English Notes Class 9 format to know more.

Students can also know how to write an effective essay during the exam by going through the Essay page at BYJU’S to increase marks in Class 9 English papers.

CBSE Class 9 English The Fun They Had Summary

The Fun They Had was written by Isaac Asimov. The story is set in the future when books and schools are conducted digitally through virtual classrooms. These classes are taken by a mechanical teacher (robot) instead of a human class teacher. The story starts with two children named Margie and Tommy. They live in a world where computers dominate each and every sphere of life, and children attend virtual classes. With the onset of virtual schools, the concept of books and classrooms has transformed considerably from the olden days.

On 17th May 2157, Margie wrote in her diary about how Tommy found a real book. It was an old book that consisted of stories. Margie’s grandfather once told her that his grandfather informed him that all the stories used to be printed on paper in those days. Both Margie and Tommy started turning the yellow and crumpled pages of the book to discover more about those days. They found it hilarious to read the book as the words stood fixed in one place instead of moving, contract to what they had seen on a computer screen. From this, it is clear that in the future, there will be telebooks only and that no hard copies of books will be available to read. Tommy exclaims that it is an utter waste to read a book and throw it away once completed. He feels that their television screen has a million books on it and could store plenty more without throwing it away.

Soon, they start reading about a school during ancient times when human beings were teachers. Although Margie hated the concept of schools, she was surprised to know actual people taught at school. This is because she has only seen robots teaching at her school. Moreover, she was not so fond of the school that was next to her bedroom as she did not have any classmates, and the mechanical teacher always gave her loads of homework to do.

Both Margie and Tommy study in a virtual classroom that includes electronic gadgets, robots, etc. Their daily lesson appears on a computer screen. It teaches them different subjects like maths, science, etc. Once, Margie’s mother called the County Inspector to fix the mechanical device on which Margie attends her virtual classes. He put the big black screen together again. However, the little girl was disappointed about the device getting fixed so soon. She knew she would again need to feed homework and test papers into it through a punch code.

Further, as both the children continue reading the book, Margie’s mother calls her to attend her classes. While Margie attends her school, the mechanical teacher teaches about fractions, but Margie’s mind starts wondering about the fun her grandparents would have had while visiting a school in the olden days. Those days, a school used to be a special building and all the kids of the same age studied together. She imagines how the kids from different areas in the neighbourhood would come together and attend school merrily. Margie gets fascinated by the fun the children had centuries ago when they went to a real school.

Conclusion of The Fun They Had

In the chapter, The Fun They Had, illustrates how emerging technology is slowly taking precedence over various things around us. In the near future, it wouldn’t be surprising to see if human teachers are replaced by mechanical devices or robots. Here’s a modest attempt from our end to help students understand the chapter from this CBSE Class 9 English Beehive Prose Summary of The Fun They Had. BYJU’S offers several other resources such as CBSE Notes and CBSE study material, and students can access several question papers and CBSE sample papers too. For more interactive content, they can also download BYJU’S: The Learning App.