In this interview, Rodney Gillead describes his experiences teaching at Oakland Community School from 1974-1976. Gillead highlights the warm, welcoming environment at the school, the joy he felt in working with other young African American educators, and how they tried to encourage critical thinking and critical awareness of the world. Gillead said that all the educators at Oakland Community School read Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” one of the seminal books in liberatory education, critical thinking pedagogy, and culturally relevant education.
Gillead also emphasizes that being part of Oakland Community School was a large commitment, with many people devoting most of their day, if not their entire lives, to their role. In addition, he mentions that the Justice Board was important in that it created less of a power imbalance between teachers and students.
Gillead also speaks of his later experience as a teacher, vice principal, and principal in other schools in the Bay Area, noting that he underwent a “culture shock” when he saw the punitive manner in which administrators and educators “disciplined” an African American girl that had stolen something. Because of his objections to other schools’ approaches on many fronts, Gillead says he became “the enemy of the administration.” He also said that working with almost entirely African American educators at the Oakland Community School allowed for an openness and understanding that resulted in deep, personal, important discussions that he did not experience at other schools he worked at.
As for the educational system today, Gillead emphasizes how difficult it is to make fundamental changes, noting the continued isolation of students of color in “failing urban schools.”