What we do have, when we sit down in a classroom with a text or an idea, is our own responses and opinion. We can be sure of those. Of course, in what we might call an ‘arts’ subject, opinions may be quite easily factored in. we say what we think about poems, music, paintings. Even in these arty lesson, though, opinion can be quite short-lived. It often exists as the initial recovery from reading, looking or listening – a short bout of subjectivity, before the facts kick in. the Mozart stops and we have a few minutes to say what we feel. We don’t have very long, because this brief holiday must quickly give way to the proper and serious business of understanding Mozart, his period and his intentions. Luckily, the teacher knows about those, so our opinions will soon be corrected.