The reason for teaching Current Events

I'm a little confused. The other day a school principal sent me a note explaining that her teachers don't have enough time to teach current events on top of their regular curriculum. I was disappointed. For what is the purpose of school? If the purpose of school isn't to help students understand the world in which they live and to help them develop the skills to live productively, what's the point of going to school? (Considering the fact that knowledge grows and changes as quickly as it does, there's no point in going to school to learn uncontextualized knowledge. For facts will change before students have a chance to use them.)

I really believe that if teachers used current events as the center of their curriculum, they could teach about anything that they want to/are required to teach about and simultaneously teach students about the world in which they live. (I use the word teach in the previous sentence, but what I should have written is that if students learn about current events they can learn about everything else as well.)

Let's take an example: In the last year, wiretapping has been an important news topic. Does the Federal Government have the right to wiretap foreign nationals without warrants? Sure this question raises issues of law but it also should raise issues of science. If students are going to effectively understand wiretapping, they should understand how wires have to be used to intercept phone conversations. What is it about wires that give them the ability to transmit voice and data? What does the word "conductivity" mean? I've provided some lesson ideas of my own here. But, I'm not a science person. Science teachers could pick up with this current event and incorporate it into their own lessons.

What do you think?