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I'm trying to find an short story I read in a collection about ten years ago. Publication date before 1980.

Here's everything I remember:

  1. The story is about kids who found an old book with stories about schools in the 20th century.
  2. In this future, kids study at home with a robot teacher. They don't know how to study with other kids.
  3. These kids (maybe sister and brother) run away from their teacher to read this book in a loft or cellar.
  4. They liked those stories about schools.

1 Answer 1

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"The Fun They Had", a short story by Isaac Asimov; first published in 1951, reprinted in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1954 which is available at the Internet Archive. From the Wikipedia page:

Set in the year 2157, when children learn individually at home using a mechanical teacher, the story tells of nine year-old Margie Jones, whose friend Tommy finds a real book. The book tells about a time when children learned altogether in a group in a place called a school. They discuss what it must have been like to be together with a real person as a teacher, and 'the fun they had'.

This story was also the subject of this old question and this one.

2
  • That's it! Thank you. Mar 24, 2015 at 8:08
  • I believe this is one of the most anthologised stories ever.
    – TRiG
    Mar 24, 2015 at 12:25

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