Try the following experiment: ask as many 16-year-olds as you can find what major world event occurred in 1945. I'll bet that most of them, even the ones from less favoured schools, will be able to give you roughly the right answer ("Hitler was defeated", "We won the war" etc). Then ask them what major world event took place in 1989. In response to the blank looks, offer a clue: this historical milestone also involved Berlin. A few of the more politically aware may now get it, but the rest of them will remain dumbfounded.
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