Friday Fragments

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Friday Fragments Sara Brady Fri, 10/02/2026 - 03:00 AM History is cunning, Michigan’s grading experiment and first job experiences. Byline(s) Matt Reed Friday Fragments Sara Brady Fri, 10/02/2026 - 03:00 AM History is cunning, Mich…

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Inside Higher Ed

The University of Michigan caught a lot of flak for its proposal, apparently since tabled, to “hide” the grades of first-semester students.

I actually liked the idea.

Having gone to a public high school outside a smallish city, I wasn’t prepared initially to compete in college with students who had spent four years in residential prep schools. That first semester was a rough ride, both academically and personally. Some of that resulted from poor choices of classes—Russian 101 was a bad idea—but some of it was a form of standards shock.

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After the first semester, I was able to raise my game. But by then, real damage had been done. If the first-semester grades didn’t count, my graduating GPA would have been significantly higher. That first semester was more a reflection of the shock that comes from jumping into cold water than it was a measure of my ability to swim.

(Williams also had a required swim test, about which I have Thoughts. But that’s another post.)

Admittedly, I’m generalizing from personal experience. But there’s something to the idea that some sort of on-ramp can offer public school grads a fighting chance against the Phillips Andover crowd. I’d hate to see a good idea sacrificed to fears of idiotic behavior that will almost certainly happen anyway.

Along similar lines, I’d love to hear from wise and worldly readers at graduate institutions about how they interpret grades earned in dual-enrollment classes. Are they counted at parity, discounted or ignored? I’ve never seen data on this, but I’d love to know.

Alternately, if there are any Ed.D. students out there looking for a research topic, consider this my gift to you. Enjoy!

I don’t quote Hegel often, but lately I’ve been thinking about his idea of the “cunning of history.” It’s his term for the times when circumstances conspire to get the outcome they want, against the intentions of actual actors. History seems particularly cunning lately.

There’s no way to note this without seeming insensitive, but the war on Iran has done quite a bit to encourage the shift to electric vehicles and hybrids. The longer that the price of gas is 50 percent or more higher than it was before the war, the more appealing it becomes to find ways to reduce or eliminate the use of gas. And that’s to say nothing of diesel, where the increases have been even worse, apparently to the benefit of railroads.

Hegel would have diagnosed the moment. The current administration has made no secret of its fealty to fossil fuels, but its foreign policy is creating market incentives to move away from them. And it’s easier to repeal a tax credit than it is to end a war. History has conspired to turn the administration’s moves against itself.

Of course, for anyone not blinded by ideology or tribal loyalty, that consequence of the war was utterly foreseeable.

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The market viability of renewables has improved markedly of late. In my state, electricity bills are split between generation and delivery. The company that delivers the electricity has a monopoly in a given area, and it’s allowed to charge a certain amount. But you can choose from among multiple providers for generation. When it came time to renew or switch a couple of months ago, I was swamped with offers from various companies. Some offered brief teaser rates followed by eye-watering increases; others offered a flat rate for a full year.

The single cheapest provider, which was the one I chose, generates all of its power from solar and wind. The renewable-energy option was the cheapest option over a full year. The federal administration may sing the praises of fossil fuels, but at this point, the technology has hit the point where you’d pay a premium not to use renewables. The “virtuous” choice and the cheap choice are the same choice. And it has been completely fine.

We’re backing into better choices, almost despite ourselves. After all these years, the market is generating its own version of a carbon tax. History is cunning.

Fresh out of college this summer, The Girl had a frustrating first job experience. She somehow found her way into working at a hedge fund, only to discover quickly that its culture and her expectations weren’t aligned. (I’m being nice.) She escaped with her sanity and dignity intact, quickly finding a “tide you over” job to keep her afloat while she looks for something that’s more like her.

I suspect, and have suggested to her, that a version of that experience will find its way into some very good writing in a few years. In just a couple of months, the number of horrifying anecdotes gave her a store of material that should last for decades. History remains cunning.