Wasted Tax Dollars

The state of Michigan requires you to attend a program called Work First if you receive and cash assistance from the state. Lucky me falls into that catagory. At least for now. Woo Hoo!
The hours you are required to attend are bases on the ages of your children and who is on your state grant. Hubby and I are required to attend 35 hours, however, the hours he works are subtracted from that. You can also carry over hours from week to week. For example: Austin works 14 hours this week, we had 12 hours carry over from last week, so at we have to complete 9 hours at the program. Either one of us can do the hours.
The program teaches you how to do resumes, fill out applications, practice interviews, and works on job skills. They will help get you into some training programs and pay for equipment and uniforms if needed. It pays limited mileage for the driving you do and also helps you get an outfit to interview in.
There are people in my "class" that really need these things. Some of them need a whole lot more that what they will learn here. Then there are those of us who can breeze through everything and spend a lot of time banging our heads into the walls because we are wasting so much time.
The training programs they cover are a joke. I'd like to see someone support a family on the pay they will receive from those jobs. It sucks because they will not count your college hours toward the program if you are going for a 4 year degree. Statistically, you will do much better in life with a bachelor degree that you will with a vocational certificate. Apparently, the State of Michigan doesn't want you to be able to get ahead, they just want you off their dole. I've never understood that.
They would rather help me get a certificate that lets me barely pay the bills and requires me to most likely stay on Food Stamps and Medicaid. They say they can't afford to help me while I get a degree that will let me pay the bills, buy food, and get my own insurance. Has anyone in their office ever bothered to crunch the numbers?
Another issue I have is the number of people who come into the program without a high school diploma. Work First offers no help to these people who need a GED. For pete's sake, McDonald's won't hire you without a diploma or GED. How are these people expected to succeed with no foundation?
I guess this is just another example of how messed up this lovely state is. I'm sure I will be writting more about this in the future.