Page 70 - English Expedition Class 6

Margie was scornful . ‘School? What’s there to write about school? I hate school.’
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Margie had always hated school, but now she hated it more than ever. Th e mechanical teacher
had been giving her test aft er test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse until her
mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector.
He was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and wires. He
smiled at Margie and gave her an apple, then took the teacher apart. Margie had hoped he wouldn’t
know how to put it together again, but he knew how all right, and, aft er an hour or so, there it was
again, large and black and ugly, with a big screen on which all the lessons were shown and the
questions were asked. Th at wasn’t so bad. Th e part Margie hated most was the slot where she had
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to put homework and test papers. She always had to write them out in a punch code they made
her learn when she was six years old, and the mechanical teacher calculated the marks in no time.
Th e Inspector had smiled aft er he was
fi nished and patted Margie’s head. He said to her
mother, ‘It’s not the little girl’s fault, Mrs Jones.
I think the geography sector was geared a little
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too quick . Th ose things happen sometimes.
I’ve slowed it up to an average ten-year level.
Actually, the overall pattern of her progress is
quite satisfactory.’ And he patted Margie’s head
again.
Margie was disappointed. She had been
hoping they would take the teacher away
altogether. Th ey had once taken Tommy’s
teacher away for nearly a month because the
history sector had blanked out completely.
So she said to Tommy, ‘Why would anyone
write about school?’ • What was Margie scornful about?
Tommy looked at her with very superior • Why did the County Inspector take the
eyes. ‘Because it’s not our kind of school, teacher apart?
stupid. Th is is the old kind of school that they
• Why wasn’t Margie faring well in her
had hundreds and hundreds of years ago.’ He Geography tests?
added loft ily , pronouncing the word carefully,
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‘Centuries ago.’
Margie was hurt. ‘Well, I don’t know what kind of school they had all that time ago.’ She read
the book over his shoulder for a while, then said, ‘Anyway, they had a teacher.’
‘Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.’
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‘A man? How could a man be a teacher?’
‘Well, he just told the boys and girls things and gave them homework and asked them questions.’
‘A man isn’t smart enough.’

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scornful: full of contempt geared a little too quick: (here) adjusted for a higher level
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slot: opening of learning
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sector: the space in a computer that stores a particular loftily: with a superior air
type of information 10 regular: (here) of the usual kind
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