A common question that students and teachers ask when studying History is about the distinction between the terms ‘opinion’ and ‘perspective’ when analysing sources. For many, there is the assumption that these terms mean the same thing. In fact, in typical everyday discussions, people do indeed use these words interchangeably.
For example, in a meeting, someone might say that they want to hear your ‘opinion’ on a topic, or they could say that they want to hear your ‘perspective’ on the topic. Regardless of which term they use, they are essentially meaning the same thing. However, due to the fact that common parlance uses ‘opinion’ and ‘perspective’ interchangeably, it has introduced unfortunate confusion in the History classroom.
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