The Wall Street Journal - 22.08.2019

SCHOOLIS STARTING,which

meanshomework,whichmeans

near nightlybattles over when and

howit’s doneforsomefamilies.

Parents should payattentionto

theirchild’s homeworkandoffer

help, saysJohn Froiland,an educa-

tionalpsychologistat Purdue Uni-

versityandauthor of the book “In-

spired Childhood.” But when they

get too controlling, that help can

backfire.

Dr. Froilandpublisheda study

in2012 that found that frequent

parentinvolvement and grade-

checkingineighthgrade has a

negative effect, albeitslight,on

composite math,scienceand read-

ingstandardized achievement-test

scores. In an editedinterview,Dr.

Froilandtalks about whyhome-

workissuch a sore spot and how

parents can reduce that tension

andhelp theirchildren.

Whyishomeworksuchabattle-

ground?

It’s somethingkidsdon’t really

want to do. Theyworkedhard all

dayand mightbe tired andjust

want to play.The problemis, par-

ents often revert to a controlling

style.Ifachildsays, “I don’t feel

likedoinghomework rightnow,” a

lot of parents willsay,“Well, I don’t

careifyou don’t feel likedoingit,

Ifthereisa three-part question

andthe childonlyanswers two,

youcan pointthat out, butina

calmway,not “Whatinthe heck

were you thinking?”It’s good for

parents to realize thatit’s normal

for kidsto sometimesmissthings.

Does onlinehomeworkencourage

autonomy andavoidparental

control?

Yes,butthe trickisiftheirchild

hasSnapchat,text and Twitter run-

ningat the same timeand they

start gettingall these alerts while

doinghomework. You can tell them

aboutresearch showingitcaninter-

fere withconcentrationand suggest

theyturnitoff. If they are younger

getup there and

doyourhomework

rightnow.”

Shouldaparent

determine the

timea childdoes

homework?

Iwouldencour-

age autonomy.Par-

entsoften want

theirchildren to

gettheirhome-

workdone right

awayandcreate

arbitrarydeadlines

anda false sense

oftimepressure.

Ifachildasks to

dohomeworkafter dinneroraftera

walk withthe dog because they

needto clear theirmind,that might

bereasonable. Parentscanshow

someflexibility.

Sometimes, though, the childis

procrastinating. Then the parent

hasto be as patientas possiblebut

help the childsee the greater pur-

pose to gettingitdone on time.

Whatifaparent checks homework

andit’s incompleteorwrong?

Don’tjustfocus on the mis-

takes,whichcan make them feel

terribleaboutthemselves. Ask

questionsabout waysitcan beim-

proved or givesuggestionsinstead

ofredoingitfor them.

andit’sinterfer-

ingwiththeir

learning, you can

require that they

turnitoff. Ex-

plainwhyand

providea clear

rationalesoit

doesn’tcomeoff

asyoujusttrying

to overpower

them.

Shouldschools

adviseparents

onhomework

help?

Iargue that

schoolsshould

helptrainthem, especiallywiththe

newtechnology. Many schools now

provideapps that giveparentsim-

mediate updates on all student

grades, whichcan promote account-

ability. Some parents get alarmed

when anythingcomesinbelowa

90%andimmediatelytext their

middleor highschool student.

Sometimesthe teacher puts a zero

as a placeholder untiltheyhave

timeto grade late work. Thiscan

leadto unnecessarilystressful com-

municationand misunderstandings.

What’s agoodapproachtoasking

yourchildaboutdailyhomework?

Askyourchild,“Whatisyour

planto get yourhomeworkdone

GETTY

IMAGES

Casting Big Tech as Villain

Fictionalizedtech companies playthebadguysin a batch of new novels and movies

MI

CH

AEL

BYER

S

V

illainsintoday’s

novelsdon’tjust

threaten to destroy

lives. They also send

mail,offerdirec-

tionsand sell socks.

Fictionalized versionsof big

tech firmslikeAmazon, Google

and Facebook are beingcast as the

badguysina batch of new novels,

playingon fears about the perva-

sive reach of technology into ev-

erydaylife. Manyofthe books ask

howmuch people are willing to

give up in exchange for high-tech

gadgets and algorithms that antici-

pate their every need.

The portrayalshave drawn Hol-

lywood’s interest, with several in

development for TV and film.

“Tech is so much more a part of

ourday-to-daylivesnow and we

are so aware of the creepiness,”

saidDan Lyons, a former writer on

the HBO show “Silicon Valley” who

haspublished fiction and nonfic-

tionbooksaboutthe techworld.

“Itbecomes a more ripe target for

novelists.”

Inthe books,fictionalized dop-

pelgängers with names like Cloud,

TheShop or Beetle have grown so

big, no government can regulate

them. The novelscoincidewith

mounting criticism of big tech firms

in the real world. This week,The

WallStreet Journal reported thata

group of states is preparing to

moveforward with a joint antitrust

investigation of big technology

companies, according to people fa-

miliar with the situation.

Onthe fictionalized techfirms

portrayedinthe novels, Google

and Amazon declined to comment,

whileFacebook and Appledidn’t

respond to requests for comment.

Generally the companies say they

operate fairlyand don’t engagein

anticompetitive behavior.

“The Warehouse,”a book about

agiantonline retailercalled Cloud,

debuted in the U.S. on Tuesday.

Employees liveincorporate dorms

and risk injury sprinting across

warehouse floors to hitproductiv-

itytargets; wristbandstrackin-

habitants’ movements. Whena

corporate spy starts to diginto

Cloud’s secrets,trouble follows.

The book has been optionedfor

thescreen, withImagineEnter-

tainment beating out several other

biddersinahighsix-figure deal.

RonHoward has been named asa

likelydirector, accordingto people

familiarwiththe deal.

The novel,whichauthor Rob

Hart sold to Crown in a six-figure

publishing deal, is being released

inmore than 20 languages. Editor

JulianPavia,whoalso worked on

hits “The Martian” by Andy Weir

and Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player

One,”told a ballroom full of book-

sellers at a publishingconference

thisspringthat after readingthe

novel,hecould never look ata

cardboard box on his doorstepthe

sameway again. “We’re heading to

areally scary place where we’re

tradingour privacy for conve-

nience,” says Mr. Hart.

Today’s works buildon a long

literary tradition of dystopian tech

themes, as successive generations

ofauthors have plumbed the dark

sideofscientificadvancement.Al-

dousHuxley’s “Brave New World,”

publishedin 1932 ,explored the

ways technology can fuel authori-

tarianism. “The Minority Report,”

a1956 short story by PhilipK.

Dick, examined the dangers ina

future worldofuncheckedtechnol-

ogywhere attempts to predicthu-

man behaviorare the norm.InOc-

taviaE. Butler’s 1993 novel

“Parable of the Sower,” technology

has failed tosave humankind and

left people lookingbeyond Earth

for a better society.

The latest novelsputan often

satiricaltwistontechthemes. Sev-

eral focus on the dangers

ofa single company that will do

anything to maintain its power,

ideasraisedinrecent years with

bookslike“The Circle” by Dave

Eggers.

“QualityLand,” forinstance,

which debuts in the U.S. in January,

isan edgy comedy thatimaginesa

government bent on securing

growth at any cost while catering

to the needs of bigbusiness. Al-

readyahitinGermany,author

Marc-Uwe Kling’s home market, the

book’s upcoming U.S. cover evokes

the designof an Amazon box. Mike

Judge, co-creator of the HBO com-

edy“Silicon Valley,” has optioned

the novelforanotherHBOserieshe

wouldexecutiveproduce and co-

writeforthe network.

Inthe book, protagonistPeter

Jobless’s life spinsout of control

after a drone mistakenly delivers

himapinkvibra-

tor.Theitem

comesfrom

TheShop,an

onlineretailer that knowswhat ev-

eryone wants before they want it.

Peter embarks on a riskyquest to

returntheitem, even though hisat-

tempts to do so reveal troubles

withTheShop’s all-powerful algo-

rithm.

Meanwhile,afriendlyandroid

runsfor presidentagainsta racist

human.Mr. Kling likes the idea of

readers wonderingwhether they

shouldroot for the robot. “Nobody

wants a bad machine,”saidMr.

event that the infallible algorithms

didnotpredict.Whileapoliceof-

ficer investigates how the technol-

ogymisfired, a headless anti-ter-

rordroidthinksithas foundthe

killerand fatally shoots the inno-

centman.

“Whendoesthesystembecome

somethingyou can no longer es-

cape?”asked Ms. Kavenna. “At what

pointdoes it become you can’t opt

out—you have no choice?”

AuthorJessicaPowell,in“The

BigDisruption,” wants to prod her

techaudienceintosomeself-reflec-

tion.Aformerheadofcommunica-

tionsat Google, Ms. Powell sees

thefictionaltech giantinher novel

asanuancedvillain. Released in

printthisspring, the SiliconValley

spooffeatures a tech company

calledAnahata,whichisdevelop-

inga secret projectto defeatits

competitors. The company’s grand

visionincludes putting a campus

onthe moon so its vaunted engi-

neerswon’t be constrainedby

Earth’s laws or lured away by ri-

vals.(Shesaid the book isn’t based

onGoogle.)

The satire describesan email

chainthat starts withsalespeople

complainingthat engineers should

be required to wear shoes to the

office and spinsinto an inane war

involving lawyers and talk about

personal freedom. “I findyour

emailreally offensive,” one em-

ployee writes. “I’m adding a whole

bunch of other people to this

thread to confirm my opinion.”

“Iwanted somethingI felt like

tech people would laugh at and

see themselves in,”Ms.Powell

said,“but they’d also stickaround

to hopefullytakeinsome of the

criticism.”

Kling, 37. “But do we want the

good machine?That’s aninterest-

ingquestion.”

Othernovels explore fears

aboutprivacy. In “Zed,” outin

January, British novelist Joanna

Kavenna wants toteaseouta re-

versalshe sees happening:She be-

lieves that instead of people being

private and government being

transparent,peopleare increas-

ingly exposed and government is

moresecretive.

The vehicleforher satireis

themega-company “Beetle,”

basedon an amalgam of tech

firms,shesaid.Citizens wear

Beetlebandsthat track theirper-

sonaldata and generate predic-

tions,includingthe probable date

ofthe users’ deaths.

The novelstartswithnews that

aBeetlestaff member has mur-

dered hiswife and two sons,an

today?”

Bepatientand waitfor theirre-

sponseinstead of rattlingoffa

bunchof other questionslike,“How

muchtimeisitgoing to take you to

doit?”and “When are you goingto

start?” followed by “You better get

moving.” If they need help manag-

ingtheirtime, providesuggestions.

Don’ttell them what todo.

Doyou thinkparents aredeliber-

atelycontrolling?

Alotoftimesparents don’t even

realize what they are doing.Wedid

avideotaped studywhere parents

were supposed to act as a consul-

tant and let theirkidsput some-

thingtogether.

Ifachildwas sittingthere, think-

ingfor more than fiveseconds, the

parent would start grabbingparts

andtrytodoitfor the child,which

often frustrated thechild.Some-

timesthe parent didn’teven notice

thatthe childwould sighor look a

little upset.

Whydowell-meaningparentsbe-

comecontrollingwhenit comes to

homework?

Somecallitthe rightingreflex.

Weloveourkidssomuch.We

wantthem todowell.When we

seethemstruggle,wewanttotake

overand doitfortheminsteadof

lettingthem learn and problem-

solveontheirown.

BYCLAREANSBERRY

Homework Doesn’t Have to Turn Into aConstant Battle

BYELLENGAMERMAN

‘TheWarehouse’debutedintheU.S.onTuesday;‘The

BigDisruption’spoofsSilicon Valley; ‘QualityLand’ is

alreadyahitin Germany;‘Zed’explores privacy.

THEWALLSTREETJOURNAL. Thursday,August 22 , 2019 |A

LIFE & ARTS