Standard 6

The National Geography Standards

	Many urban places in the US today have spilled over their political boundaries, giving rise to suburbs and blurring distinctions between municipalities. What we call these new regions depends on how we perceive them. "Tidewater" was chosen for the seven cities of southeastern Virginia (Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Viriginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk) by the U.S. Postal Service. Immediately, local opinion leaders insisted that "Hampton Roads" captured their perception of the region more accurately.
	Norfolk, Virginia - Although located in Norfolk, the new regional post office handled mail from all of southeastern Virginia. The Postal Service chose to use "Tidewater" for the new postmark. Immediately, people reacted to the new name and began to debate the question of what to call the region.
	Norfolk, Virginia - Several months later, business and government leaders decided that "Hampton Roads" was a preferable metropolitan toponym for southeastern Virginia. Their perception of regional identity has been the focus of debate ever since.
	The Postal District of the Mail Handling Facility in Norfolk, Virginia - What name is applied to the region shown on this map became a subject of controversy in 1983 and continues to be debated in southeastern Virginia. How people perceive this region -- "Tidewater" or "Hampton Roads" -- will determine what they call it. Source: D.J. Zeigler and J.C. Friberg, based on data from the postmaster.

A Sample Question from the National Geography Challenge 1996 (Grades 5-6) which illustrates . . .

STANDARD 6 - PERCEPTION OF PLACES AND REGIONS

When Pheobe's grandmother moved to Phoenix, Arizona last summer, she wrote in her letters about how hot it was there. Some days the temperature reaches 105 degrees, but she said it was better than hot days in Chicago where Pheobe and her family live because:

1. it rains there every afternoon and cools things off.
2. there are fewer hours of daylight in Arizona in the summer.
3. the humidity is generally low.
4. there are very few sunny days because of the cloud cover in the desert.