Rice President, Nobel Laureate Partake in Teach for America

Rice President, Nobel Laureate Partake in Teach for America
BY ROBERT STANTON
Special to the Rice News
Nov. 5, 1998

At Furr High School, studies of cutting-edge chemistry findings or developments
in Latin American economics often take the form of textbook readings or a classroom
lecture.

This month, however, the weighty subjects were brought to life through classroom
visits by two of the top scholars in the fields: Rice University President Malcolm
Gillis, a Latin American economics schol-ar; and Nobel prize-winning chemist
Richard Smalley, also of Rice.

The two scholars joined hundreds of academicians throughout the nation who
took part in Teach for America Week (Oct. 19-23), which brings successful Americans
into classrooms each year to share their experience and knowledge.

The weeklong lecture series is designed to spread the word about Teach for
Amer-ica’s main program, a national corps of recent college graduates who commit
to two years of teaching throughout the United States.

Each year, about 1,000 corps members reach over 100,000 students in under-served
urban and rural communities. In Houston, over 130 corps members and alumni teach
in all subject matter and grade levels in the Houston Independent School District.

To the outside observer, it was difficult to tell who enjoyed the one-hour
classroom sessions the most–the students or their guest speakers. One could
almost hear a pin drop as Smalley and Gillis presented lively talks about the
subject areas that have consumed much of their academic lives.

"It makes their learning very exciting, but it also makes them understand
that they are important," Furr Principal Julie Shannon said of the students.
"The students are important, to have people of such renown visiting and
teaching with them. They [students] are willing to help in any way that they
can."

Furr High School has hired 12 Teach For America corps members in the last eight
years, Shannon noted.

Gillis, a former economics professor at Harvard University, urged the students
to learn more about the cultures, religions and geography of Latin America.
Fluent in Spanish, Gillis lived and studied in the region in the mid-1960s.

"All of us, particularly in the United States, have a stake in the nations
of Latin America," Gillis told about 40 students gathered in the Furr High
School Library. He said many of the stereotypes and misconceptions about the
region are giving way to a clear understanding of its strategic and economic
importance to the United States.

Gillis pointed out that Latin America represents a $1.5 trillion market that
continues to grow at a staggering rate.

After his presentation, the students unloaded a barrage of questions that ranged
from the impact of the Asian economic crisis on Latin America, to the region’s
pollution problems, to manufacturing and modernization.

"Did you note the richness of their questions?" Gillis asked a news
reporter after the presentation. "And there are people thinking that we
are having failure in public schools. Let them come and talk to these young
men and women and they won’t think that."

Just down the hall the following day, Smalley met with an equally energetic
group of students as he outlined the research that led to his receiving the
1996 Nobel Prize for his discovery of a new class of carbon molecules, called
Buckminsterfullerenes, or buckyballs.

"It has 60 atoms and kind of looks like a volleyball," explained
Smalley, who shared the discovery and award with colleagues Robert Curl of Rice
and Harold Kroto of the University of Sussez in England. As he spoke, the students
passed around vials containing the revolutionary material.

The discovery, Smalley told the students, led to development of nanotubes,
cylindrical and hollow carbon fibers that are 100 times stronger than steel,
despite being 10,000 times smaller in diameter than a human hair.

"It’s the most symmetrical carbon you make," he said. "They
are stronger than anything in the world."

Smalley also found himself fielding a wide range of questions after his presentation.
It’s that excitement for learning, he said, that keeps him in the classroom.

"This is really great fun for me," Smalley said. "I really live
for two things: one is learning and the other is watching other people learn."

He added that it’s vital to reach the growing number of high-school age students
throughout the nation.

"We have a tremendous responsibility to bring out the level of this experience
for everybody," Smalley said.

Other participants in this year’s Teach For America Week in Houston included
James A. Baker, III, honorary chairman of the Baker Institute and a member of
the Rice University Board of Trustees; Nobel laureate Dr. Paul Chu of the University
of Houston; state Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston); and Houston Comets guard Kim
Perrot.