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The Financial Cost of Technology in Education Essay

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The Financial Cost of Technology in Education

Think about how much it costs you or your family to keep up with the latest computer technology. Also think about about how much you pay at home for a high speed internet connection. Not to mention, the security, adware, and virus protection software you must purchase to ensure your computer keeps working properly. Consider how much it costs to outfit a single classroom with this technology, or even an entire school.

Schools are still expected to provide books, pencils, and paper; however, they are now also expected to budget in computers, scientific calculators, and DVD players. Computers cost up to one thousand dollars a piece; scientific and graphing calculators cost around one …show more content…

According to multiple consultants, most of the $25 million was wasted. It is now being suggested that they use systems being developed by the city, but the schools would need to spend an additional $22.7 million for the city’s computer systems (Blum 2004).

A report done by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution states that Atlanta Public Schools “misspent or mismanaged nearly $73 million from a national program intended to give poor children access to the Internet” (Donsky; Foskett 2004). Furthermore, Atlanta says it needs $14 million a year just to run “one of the country’s most lavish computer networks for school children” (Donsky; Foskett 2004). Millions of dollars were spent at schools that were closed or demolished within a few years, and other schools were supplied with electronics for twice as many classrooms as the school has. The national program footing the bill is called E-rate, and while they won’t pay for computers, they pay for Internet infrastructure. Funding for E-rate is acquired by Americans everywhere through a surcharge in their telephone bills. Using federal money quite carelessly, Atlanta Public Schools spared little expense. They repeatedly ordered equipment and upgrades that they did not need, showed no regard for price when choosing vendors, and in some cases unknowingly received less that what they paid for. Putting technology in schools is a great way to enhance the futures of our children,

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