Marrill Hartshorn, the Chairman of the National Council for Social Studies in Washington, talks about the outcomes of a conference at UNESCO House on the treatment of Asian cultures in Western textbooks. Members of the conference discussed the problem of descriptions of non-Western cultures in Western textbooks which influenced children with erroneous and distorted representations of other countries. Member states were given responsibility for assessing their current textbooks, improving the treatment of Asian cultures in these resources, and strengthening teacher education programmes. These initiatives supported UNESCO’s goal to promote international understanding among peoples around the world.