The article was interesting but analyzing it was kind of weird. First of, i got pissed that twice she use Madonna as sort of a negative answer. She says that popular culture gives women the message that is is " better to be popular sexy and "cool" than to be intelligent accomplished, and outspoken: Madonna has replaced June Alyson." Diane Ravitch was born in 1938, which makes her pretty damn old. I don't know who the hell June Alyson is, but I do know that Madonna is intelligent, and definitely is accomplished. I don't know what the main question of the essay is. Are "smart" girls looked down on at school? Are smart black kids looked down on at school? Is academic achievement going down? What are we doing about it? What should w do about it? How is this effecting our economy? There are a lot of different ideas addressed in this essay.