There are approximately 100,000 children in Newfoundland and Labrador schools. There are approximately 6,000 teachers in this province, a ratio of 1 teacher for every seventy-three children. And as far as statistics go, it is commonplace to have classrooms with thirty-five to forty students being instructed by one teacher.

"Literacy 2000" is a phrase that has been around for at least the past five years. It was coined by adult educators who 'wanted to bring emphasis to the problem of adult illiteracy in this province long before the Y2K. Many people have been wondering, for example, why it is that young men and women are leaving school with grade eleven and twelve who can not read or write very well. Perh.1ps one explanation is the high number of children in a classroom - a single teacher just can't cope with forty children.

Computers too, have become a craze, a preoccupation with today's youth. Schools in this province have indorsed the computer industry and have fueled the computer generation with its favour. Computer courses, lasting for an entire school year, have been added to the curriculum, forcing administrators to move more traditional courses aside or to totally remove them from the school timetable.

Are we sending children out into the world who can operate, repair and even build a computer, yet, they cannot read? In some cases, YES. Unfortunately, these children do not get very far. For one thing, companies won't hire them - many of these children do not know what a resume is let alone how to fill one out. For a second thing, they often get in trouble with the law and end up in jail. Then, for a third thing, these young people often become bitter, disillusioned and trapped in an institutionalized environment.

During the last week of April Corrections Canada and the Federal Bureau of Corrections from the United States will play host to a Literacy 2000 conference for state and provincial correctional teachers in Ottawa, Canada. Let's hope that there are positive changes to the system as a result of this conference.

The Meaning of Easter.