Standards don't necessarily become higher only through regulation. Take woodworking for example, something I know three-eights of an inch about. There was a time when the European system with it's formal training set-up to get your qualifications (thinking Germany here), had it all over the quality of work being done in the states. Then in the states, some people got inspired and set some very good examples, and doing clean work became a groovy thing. As the skill level grew, through exhibitions and such so did the publics awareness of what could be accomplished, and the benefits in it for themselves. When there is a market for quality, some of the people doing the work will always arise to the occasion, and competition becomes a fruitful driving force for higher and higher expectation and accomplishment. Some or many of the craftsmen in the US are right at the top of the heap now, and being well compensated.
I guess the point I'm trying to make, is that the public being desirous of good work is one avenue for better and better practices as the norm. That might be the only way for it to happen in the states. Without that, it's hard to budge the thing. The public needs to get better informed. Regulations are not the end all, and I think that based on a lot of work I see being done in Europe, the restrictions to be licensed, tend to end up being somewhat confining in terms of creativity....... a point I could elaborate upon, but beyond the scope of this discussion.
