Nicky Cheese

Earlier this week, the creation of Advance Illinois:

Jim Edgar, former Governor of Illinois, and Bill Daley, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, came together today with Illinois civic and business leaders and the Bill & Melinda Gates and Joyce foundations to launch Advance Illinois, a bipartisan effort to push toward improved public education in Illinois.

Illinois public education stinks. The organization recognizes this. Good. That’s the first step:

…22 percent of high school students are college-ready across the four ACT testing areas, and fewer than 30 percent of Illinois students demonstrate proficiency on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests, placing the state at or below national averages in all areas and at all grade levels.

So what exactly are the strategies, the particular tactics, to this end? What is their plan to improve public education?

<Crickets>

Yeah… that’s hard to tell. Really hard. Arguably painful. I mean, watch this story from Monday’s Chicago Tonight. Tell me if you can figure out what their plan is. Chicago Tonight spends over five minutes on the story and all they come up with is a “listening tour”, whatever that means.

You will notice, however – taking a page out of the Obama playbook – that a big part of their solution is “Change”.

Yes, “Change”. Throughout the broadcast, in fact, viewers hear the word “change” 13 times. 13 times!

Like the Obama campaign, “Change” for Advance Illinois remains undefined and thereby, utterly meaningless. That’s okay though. People just want “Change”. Me? I’d rather they be feeding me some more of that “Same”; at least it’d be honest.

3 Responses so far | Have Your Say!

1. 

   E
   November 21st, 2008 at 2:59 pm #

   I like the new look.

   E’s last blog post..A September e-mail from Krista
2. 

   Brian Costin
   December 1st, 2008 at 2:20 pm #

   It doesn’t surprise me almost all politicians promising “change” are really promising more of the same. If you are really a “change” agent you should be able to define what needs to be changed and why. Next, you have to illustrate exactly what you are changing and why it work better than current policy. Obama “change” neither describes what needs to be changed or what exactly he plans to change from current policy. Seems the same goes for Edgar, Daley, and Gates

   Brian Costin’s last blog post..SFC to Village “take the transparency pledge”
3. 

   Ericka Andersen
   December 10th, 2008 at 3:03 pm #

   I could not find a contact email for you so I am hoping you will read this comment.

   This is Ericka Andersen with Culture11.com. We are working on something and would like to get some of the best conservative blogs to help out. We want to hear from you about issues in 2008 and predictions for 2009.

   I found Nicky Cheese while browsing on the Sam Adams Alliance website and was impressed so I hope you will consider being a part of our little project here.

   People often feel like Washington doesn’t know what the heck is really going on in their states, the real issues of the people. As a spokesman, please answer the following:

   – What are five issues that you wish DC was more focused on? Think about the residents of your state and how national politics often gets in the way of state and individual needs.

   – What are five predictions for 2009?

   These can be political, humorous, entertainment, etc. It could be something Obama is going to do, something conservatives will overcome, a Supreme Court judge dies and who takes their place, foreign policy predictions, trends, technology, etc. Be creative!

   I hope you will participate and please let me know if you have any questions! I look forward to your answers.

   Best,

   Ericka Andersen
   Culture11.com
   Ericka@culture11.com
   812.30.3215