Occupational licensure roundup

6 Comments

  • In medieval times, the Guilds in Europe controlled the trades. They had a license from the King and others could not practice those trades (masonry, etc). Current occup lic is simply this Medieval idea in continued existence. They always use public safety as an excuse but that is almost always fake.In the cosmetology case MAYBE you could hurt someone dieing their hair but simply cutting hair? No way. If my barber does a bad job I’m not going back. There is simply no excuse for lic requirements for interior decorators or hair braiders or dieticians. It is all just job protection.

    • I’m not so sure about dieticians. Dieticians need to know a good deal about nutrition, both what the body needs and what different foods prepared in different ways supply. There are all sorts of folk beliefs about such things and lots of quacks pushing ideas about diet that are often ineffective and sometimes dangerous. People can of course follow whatever diet they like, but it is desirable for people to be able to distinguish reliable, scientific information from claptrap and for institutions such as hospitals to employ people who actually know what they are talking about.

  • RE: NM case.

    What should have happened is that each of the NM trial court and the NM court of appeals should have ordered the board (and the attorneys for the board) to pay Turner’s costs. There does not seem to be a good faith argument that the punishment was consonant with First Amendment principles.

    It is too bad his claim was time-barred. Bankrupting type damages should have been ordered against the “public servants” responsible for the outrage.

  • If a dietitian, or anyone else, wants to advertised as “State Licensed”, that should be a plus, if licensing really means anything. Except in real safety issues (Professional Engineer), the license shouldn’t be required.

  • I’m not so sure about dieticians. Dieticians need to know a good deal about nutrition, both what the body needs and what different foods prepared in different ways supply. There are all sorts of folk beliefs about such things and lots of quacks pushing ideas about diet that are often ineffective and sometimes dangerous. People can of course follow whatever diet they like, but it is desirable for people to be able to distinguish reliable, scientific information from claptrap and for institutions such as hospitals to employ people who actually know what they are talking about.

    You need only read “Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It” to understand that a dietician may not have any idea what they are talking about – particularly if they believe what governments have been promoting regarding “healthy eating” over the last 50 years.

  • I’m not so sure about dieticians. Dieticians need to know a good deal about nutrition, both what the body needs and what different foods prepared in different ways supply. There are all sorts of folk beliefs about such things and lots of quacks pushing ideas about diet that are often ineffective and sometimes dangerous. People can of course follow whatever diet they like, but it is desirable for people to be able to distinguish reliable, scientific information from claptrap and for institutions such as hospitals to employ people who actually know what they are talking about.

    You need only read “Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It” to understand that a dietician may not have any idea what they are talking about – particularly if they believe what governments have been promoting regarding “healthy eating” over the last 50 years.