Andrew Ferguson reviews in today’s Wall Street Journal a book that goes behind the scenes at Harvard Business School—and seemingly reveals what one might expect to find behind the scenes at Harvard Business School. And USA Today’s peerless education reporter, Greg Toppo, talks with journalist Donna Foote about her new book, Relentless Pursuit, which follows four members of Teach For America who worked at Los Angeles’s Locke High School.

Want to be the best public school in the nation? Banish all those who do not hold at least a B average.

I read Bob Herbert columns when I have trouble sleeping, and so it was that I noticed his piece, published Saturday, about high schools—how they’re not preparing students for college and work, and how too many students drop out.

Herbert’s source was Bob Wise, the affable president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, and a former governor of West Virginia. Herbert deserves praise for writing about the sorry state of education for grades 9-12, but he disserves the topic by oversimplifying and misrepresenting it. What is never mentioned is that graduating more kids from high school and ensuring that high-school graduates are prepared for college and work, the two goals Herbert lauds, are not necessarily complements. In fact, the easiest way to mint more high-school graduates is by making high school easier, making a diploma worth less, and shuttling kids through the grades. The challenge is setting high standards and keeping them, while also setting up support networks and alternative routes for students who have difficulty meeting tough academic expectations.

It’s bad policy to argue with a man named Wise, but the former governor’s quote—”The best economic stimulus package is a diploma”—is true only if diplomas have value.