I was doing some work in the library at my son's school yesterday morning, when the chatter amongst the middle-school students suddenly caught my ears, and singed them a little.

These very young teens were calmly discussing the details of the recent downfall of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. As I heard them converse knowingly about prostitution rings and the governor's particular paramour and how much it stinks that he probably won't do time, I looked with amazement at the librarian, who shrugged and pointed at the copies of the morning paper sitting on a nearby bookshelf.

I was still shaking my head when the TV came on for the morning news program played to this captive school audience, and it, too, led with the Spitzer story -- though as an intro to a more inspirational piece on the state's replacement governor, who is vision-imparied (literally, not philosophically).

Now, we live in New Jersey, close enough to New York that these kids might have previously known the name of our neighbor-state's governor, though I doubt they ever knew as much about his policies as they do his pecadillos. But I'm pretty sure that if you asked my kids what embarrassment has befallen Eliot Spitzer, they'd figure it had something to do with his name sounding like spitting.

That lack of awareness about national events is a problem when I'm trying to prepare my daughter to be an informed and responsible voter. Obsession with the small and personal facts of their daily lives is in many ways a limitation to both my children, as they grow and face the choice between participating in the world and being protected from it.

Still, I'll tell you, I'm pretty glad not to have our dinner-table discussion turn to how much a high-priced call girl earns these days. Sometimes, obliviousness is a gift.