We also learned our lessons well from working with CTW and continue to learn from our partners here today. But respect for cultural diversity must be firmly anchored on a sense of belonging to a particular group, of knowing and appreciating one's own people and culture with its own wealth and diversity, of feeling secure in the knowledge that the culture is not inferior to others. It must be anchored on national self-esteem. And national self-esteem must be nurtured. That nurturing must begin in childhood.
Television plays a potentially constructive role in that process.
Or it can be a strong deterrent to developing a sense of community as a people and building a collective cultural identity. In terms of television, we must always look at the big picture and see if there is a balance in terms of the language, the sights and sounds, the pace and the content of the programs. Aside from the language, the visuals and the content of television programs that our children watch and the amount of time they devote to watching these programs is also a critical factor in learning about people - their own country as well as other people. Many of the programs that our children watch still include stereotypical images and characterizations, even racist treatments of certain groups of people like African-Americans or Asian Americans and especially of girls and women. These include relatively new programs as well as reruns.