Government regulation excludes many people who would really be good at something by limiting, artificially, those who can enter some particular professions. John Stossel has an interesting piece on typical government involvement.
Some years ago, a married couple, Taalib-Din Uqdah and Pamela Farrell, went into business braiding hair, African-style. They called their shop Cornrows & Co. If politicians’ speeches are right, Uqdah and Farrell were heroes: Inner cities need businesses, and the couple had built a booming business in Washington, D.C. They had 20,000 customers, employed 10 people and took in half a million dollars a year. Some women came from as far away as Connecticut, six hours away, to have their hair braided by Cornrows & Co.
The local cosmetology board got involved, and the Uqdahs spent ten years fighting them in court. The board insisted they needed a cosmetology license to braid hair.
In order to get one, Uqdah would have to pay about $5,000 to take more than 1,000 hours of courses at a beauty school….
Uqdah says the braiding he provides can’t be taught in schools and shouldn’t be licensed. “I’ve watched little second-grade girls sit down and braid each other’s hair.” …When he argues that different hair requires different skills, he says, licensed cosmetologists “go into denial. They like to think that they know how to do it all. And they don’t.”
I’ve run into the same mentality in the public education world. Denial is powerful. Very powerful. Nobody can teach in our public schools unless they get a “license” from the education department of a state university. It doesn’t matter if they are capable or not, only that they complete the program with at least a 2.0 GPA. A “C” average. In other words, get through the indoctrination and regurgitate the precise information fed to you by the education establishment. If you decide to argue the logic, educators go into denial.
Ain’t gubmint good?
Especially since the courses are in HOW to teach, with not a lot of emphasis on the subject matter itself. A student teacher I knew told her advisor that she was having trouble with math. His answer: Take another “methods” course.
Comment by rabidfox — April 6, 2005 @ 7:23 am
A half a million braiding hair? I’m getting the wife and child started tomorrow!!
Comment by Wallace-Midland Texas — April 6, 2005 @ 2:37 pm
That was my first thought, too. You just never know what business idea will fly!
Comment by Bunker — April 6, 2005 @ 5:33 pm
Well, that’s only $50,000 income per employee. That ain’t chicken feed, but it’s not a cash cow, either. Figure in overhead and employee wages and benefits, and it’s a good business, but not that impressive on a per employee basis. If one person did this out of his or her own home, it would be a very nice income. What makes it impressive is how they grew to such a large number of customers and employees.
That’s also $25 per customer, which seems about right for “boutique” services.
Comment by UML Guy — April 7, 2005 @ 4:12 am