No Lice Left Behind

A standard libertarian criticism of government is that many interventions have unintended consequences, most of them undesirable.   A story in today's Wall Street Journal provides a good, if not momentous, example:

Education-reform mandates like the No Child Left Behind law are putting a contentious new spin on a classroom issue that makes parents' skin crawl: head lice.

Schools used to take a hard line on the sesame-seed-sized parasites, which suck human blood and glue their eggs to individual hairs. At the first sign of an outbreak, pupils got scalp checks. Those with lice were immediately banished from the classroom until all lice and eggs -- known as nits -- were gone.

But to the dismay of many parents, these "no nits" policies are disappearing as school districts face state and federal pressure to reduce absenteeism and boost academic achievement.

Perhaps previous policy was too cautious, so No Child Left Behind has nudged schools toward a better balance between the risks of spreading lice and the costs of absenteeism.  I do not take a stand on that point.  I offer the story merely to illustrate the broad variety of unintended consequences.

If you have a WSJ subscription, the full story is here.

Comments

C'mon Jeff, we all know how to take care of this and all other "unintended consequences" - Create a new federal program! And so the cycle of government growth continues.

Long live Leviathan!

[Mike Huben]

Let's talk about the unintended consequences of markets then.

Lice have developed resistance to all of the safer insecticides. Probably due to unregulated and unmonitored sales and use of those insecticides.

There are two obvious solutions: shaving the head and louse combs. People don't like either for a few reasons, and so they buy ineffective OTC insecticides, which merely lengthen the period until they resort to the other treatments and eradicate the lice. That keeps many kids out of school longer than necessary.

When my wife and kids got head lice about 10 years ago, I shaved their heads down to 3/4 inch or less and then used a louse comb on the remainder. Worked immediately. My kids were in school the next day.

Markets have lots of unintended consequences that are similar, but with far worse effects, such as fraudulent medical treatments.

[brandy]

The best lice treatment is to use a fine tooth lice comb and pick through the hair strand by strand under a bright light. We live in an area that has a lice problem and my daughter has a tendency to get lice at least twice a year. She has missed exactly one day of school because of it and that was the first time she got them. I used otc shampoos and sprays for that infestation and it was a waste of money. Now when I find she has them I go through her hair and she's right back to school with clearance from the school nurse. Then I comb her hair with the lice comb every day after her shower, for about 2 weeks. Infestations gone. Easy, non-toxic and cheap.