Science Fiction: The Future in the Classroom

Science fiction is a literary genre that has gained more respectability in the past few years than it had experienced previously. One can remember trying to find examples of this genre to read. Jules Verne and H. G. Wells could be found if one were educated enough in the genre to seek out these authors. When pressed, a librarian might try to foist Plato\u27s Republic or More\u27s Utopia off on the neophyte science fiction seeker. For the most part, those interested in this genre had to seek outside the confines of the public library to find examples of science fiction to consume. Science fiction for young readers in this period could become expensive. Magazines and short story collections existed, but one was apt to acquire a potpourri of good and bad fiction. Comic books abounded during this pre-television era and Buck Rogers was in great demand. Time marched on and the future became the present and atom bombs were detonated and the nuclear era became a reality. Aircraft were constantly redesigned, rockets had been invented, John Glenn went into orbit and on an historic day men actually walked on the moon. The world of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon was reality and science fiction reached out to explore new ideas