There Will Be Cramming

At the Auto Body School the students are wrapping up this year's projects. The school is part of San Mateo County's Regional Occupational Program (ROP), which teaches skills that local employers seem to want.

Students bring in their own cars to work on. They also sand and repaint cars that other owners have left as training vehicles (finally I get to use that term literally).

The cost is reasonable--less than $1,000, basically for materials but not labor. Periodically one has to check in with the school to pay for miscellaneous parts that are too rusted or damaged to be put back.

VW rear carpet

Owners must be patient, because the project spans one (sometimes two) school years. The exterior of my beetle was more or less finished in March, and an upholsterer has been contracted to do the interior work. It will be a close call whether he can finish the work this week, when the facility will be closing for the summer. (Due to funding cutbacks the Auto Body School may be closing for good; ABS programs are no longer showing for the ROP fall semester.)

It's an educational axiom that, no matter the level or type of school, there will be cramming. © 2013 Stephen Yuen