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Assuming we required about 1 , 600 additional computers for the schools and assuming that each computer with thirty-two terminals costs , at 1983 prices , about $ 30 , 000 , the total cost of the hardware would be $ 48 million . Maintenance and replacement , at the rate of 15 per cent per year would result in an annual cost of $ 7 . 2 million . The total of software and hardware would then be $ 120 million ( $ 72 million plus $ 48 million ) . If this cost is spread over fifteen years the time needed to acquire the hardware , produce the software and courseware and train a sufficient number of educators in the use of technology the annual total would be $ 8 million . The annual cost of maintenance and replacement of software ( as from the eighth year ) and hardware would be $ 16 . 2 million ( $ 9 million plus $ 7 . 2 million ) . So the total annual cost would be $ 24 . 2 million ( that is , $ 8 million plus $ 16 . 2 million ) , and this , divided by 700 , 000 pupils , brings the annual per-pupil cost to $ 34 . 60 . It may be that were the learning system to be in operation in the whole country , its cost would be even higher than the cost of the present school system . The easy answer would then be that the country could not afford it . An assessment of cost and affordability is a matter of opinion and depends on one's priorities . Golda Meir once reminisced about the old times in Eastern Europe and said that "fathers would pawn their last shirt to send their sons to Cheder [ religious school ] . " Today , they might prefer to invest in video-recorders . It would seem unjustifiable to compare the probable costs of a learning system with the cost figures of a system that appears to be moving towards its end . It would seem more relevant to relate the cost of the learning system to its expected output . If it contributes to producing more capable pupils , better qualified students , more learned scholars , more productive labour , more people with the necessary skills to earn a living , more committed citizens and more competent soldiers the investment would always pay for itself because it would be an investment in ever-renewable human wealth .
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