On mediocrity, education and politics

Abstract

Peter Mayo has a distinguished reputation in the critical sociology of education. In this interview he shares his thoughts on mediocrity and the challenges it poses to political thought and educational principles, particularly in terms of securing a balance between social equity and the kind of quality learning that can play a role in emancipative action. He reflects on the capacity of the work of Antonio Gramsci and Paulo Freire to motivate such action and the potential of Adult Education and truly democratized higher education to secure enhanced “reading [of] the word and the world”, while also speaking with candour about the damaging nature of some of mediocrity’s processes and effects.