The controversy over whether parents should have the right to determine in detail the type and scope of their children's education harks back to colonial times and has been manifested more recently in court cases considering home instruction in lieu of public school attendance. This first chapter of a book on school law objectively examines both sides of the issue and reports the outcome of available cases on the topic of home instruction. The interests of the child have increasingly been taken into account along with those of the state (in maintaining an enlightened citizenry) and those of parents (in controlling the educational destinies of their children); thus the author organizes his discussion according to these three points of view. He warns that parental choice does not transcend personal or philosophical preference and is for this reason not within the scope of constitutional protection. On the other hand, compulsory school attendance laws are limited by the constraints of the Bill of Rights. The author concludes that the courts have been almost equally divided between the state and parents in their decisions and that they primarily try to determine the adequacy rather than the manner of a child's education. (Author/WD)