restriction on state public education mandates.
Carrere (1983) feels that while the just delineated arguments of both sides have been consistent since the turn of the century, contemporary times has seen a muddling of the debate. Specifically, he states that what has been shown by recent home instruction cases is that state laws allowing privates school attendance are often not specific thereby making it difficult to known who should be prosecuted or how to prosecute them.
Given court decisions such as those listed above and the long-term American tradition of some parents choosing to home educate their children, Whitehead and Bird (1984) report that:
. . .the recent renaissance of home education is actually the closing of a circle, a return to the philosophy which prevailed in an earlier America. (p.23)
However, if today's movement to home educate is indeed a "return" or a shift away from the prevailing system of public education, it is reasonable to ask why this shift is being made? The next section of this review
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