Warren Shenk's five-day-a-week drive from Springville to Evanston to teach school there is newsworthy ("Springville teacher has a driving passion," Utah County Metro Section, March 22) because it obviously would be more economical for him to rent an apartment in Evanston and then commute home to his family on weekends. But as long as he insists on making that daily trek, I wonder if he would mind taking a couple of kids along for the ride.
If the quality of education is sufficiently superior to that in Utah to make it worth the drive for a teacher, the same attraction should hold for students. His passengers would not suffer the time penalty of Mr. Shenk because they could do homework or sleep in the car. And paying for gas plus out-of-state tuition would still be a bargain compared to what is charged by the better private schools in Utah County.It's too bad that public education in this state can't be characterized as something better than, as Mr. Shenk puts it, "glorified baby-sitting."
George R. Compton
Alpine