Manicuring Curriculum: Change for the Better? Part 2

(This is the second part of an examination of proposed changes to California's manicuring curriculum.)

Additional Hours
Given the time already wasted in the existing 400-hour curriculum, does the Board believe that school instructors need "more time to lecture on the required health and safety topics?" The problem is not how much time schools spend "teaching" about health and safety. In fact, students could learn how to properly disinfect equipment, including what can and cannot be disinfected, in 60 minutes or less. Instead, the problem is the failure of licensees to follow the health and safety regulations after they leave school. Apparently, the school experience does not convince students that following state rules and regulations is not optional.

Consideration of alternatives? How did the Board "determine that no alternative it considered or that has otherwise been identified and brought to its attention would be more effective in carrying out the purpose for which the action is proposed or would be as effective and less burdensome to affected private persons than the proposed action?" Factual basis? Where is the empirical evidence that requiring additional hours would improve the quality of education? Requiring additional hours would likely discourage individuals from becoming students, produce a significant financial burden on those who do and unnecessarily delay their entry into this profession, without ANY guarantee of increased competence or consumer safety.

To assert that this curriculum proposal represents the most reasonable alternative is ludicrous. Why not create an apprenticeship program specifically for obtaining a manicurist license? If schools cannot provide a competent manicuring instructor, students would have a much better chance of developing good sanitation habits and their technical skills in a licensed establishment under the direct supervision of a licensed manicurist. If it's acceptable for cosmetology students to apprentice, why are aren't manicuring students offered a comparable opportunity "to become safe, knowledgeable licensees?"