Cambridge is a nice place (lived there for a few years) but it has it's fair share of idiots too.
There's a "performance artist" who walks (or did when I was there) up and down Mill Road with various objects tied to his head - my favourite was a loaf of bread.
I'm not making this up!!
But there's plenty of chav's (not sure if that will translate to the yanks) in all major cities in the Uk I'm sad to say, and that's where the majority of the ignorance lies.
Whenever you get children more interested in what band's on top of the pops or which "celebrity" from Big Brother has an eating disorder, you're not going to be able to interest them in much else - because they don't care!!
The gradual decline (and it has been gradual) in our education standards has been going on for some time and it just seems that these days, it's children who run the classrooms not teachers.
My heart goes out to all you would-be teachers, because if you work in a state-run high school you have got a serious challenge in front of you!
In my school (and I'm 28! I can only imagine it's gotten worse) we had a 14 yr old student punch a teacher, get expelled and was back in 3 weeks!
Another student had his hair set on fire with a aerosol & a lighter (during french class)
Good luck!
p.s. Lacey - Sundeland! LOL - ~"where everybody knows your name.......because you're related"~