Public education is the name of the game.

Two dynamic ladies (who are also both professors, authors, activists, moms, and so on), Christine Kelly and Liza Featherstone, led the third plenary session of the 2010 Young Democratic Socialists of America conference.

First, Featherstone made clear that we must see the campus [of public higher education] as a battleground for struggle. And quickly pointed out that “[Heck], the recent March 4^th protests [amongst public universities in protest to tuition increases, among other issues] were even covered by the mainstream media,” whereby signifying a national momentum around public education that us young folk MUST keep up (e.g. protest tuition hikes and the prohibition of tenure [to professors we like]!).

Currently, both Kelly and Featherstone conveyed, public education in America is weak and sickly, or “totally physically decaying,” as Featherstone put it. Higher education is draining family incomes. Federal Pell grants have been cut substantially. There is an increased charter school movement competing with public K-12 education—which inevitably ‘fuels cynicism about the public sector and makes it harder to fight for anything else;’ all making it more difficult than ever for those in the poorer classes to obtain a college degree.

Nonetheless, Kelly urged us along, to keep up. We (18-29y) are numerous, we vote, we are diverse, we have broad attitudes (or at least compared to our parents, the baby-boomers). “You are cooler than we were,” she said. But we cannot, she told us, keep financing our education with our future and our children’s future and our parent’s future. “[The privatization of public higher education (e.g. food services, research support, financing)] is the defining fight of [our current young folk] generation.”

Maybe society does not need to be concerned about higher education? Yet, this dynamic duo assured us we do. We will have a more skilled and competitive workforce, more economic mobility, and most importantly, have a more efficacious and effective citizenry.

Yet, constantly lurking right around the corner is the unregulated and highly exempt student loan industry. Together, both massive debt and tuition increases and the inherent partnership between the two, makes the fight for sound loan and public higher education practices even more important. Both ladies, heavily promoted the upcoming film, Default: the Student Loan Documentary: How much do you owe on your future?

But we were reminded by Piven on Day One that often sound thought provoking films just evaporate upon watching. Not to worry. Featherstone urged us to “find a way to trace financial lines and to develop a campus friendly strategy;” whereby the student loan and banking industry is a good target. And we must “make alliances with our working peers of the same age (which, don’t forget, are the majority).” For this fight, we learned, ‘is really about an economic bill of rights for young Americans, in which there should be a universal right to higher education.’