The development of the economy in the historical process as a sphere of activity to meet the needs of humanity through the production and distribution of material, cultural and spiritual values has led to: 1) the creation of an education system that provides these types of activities with personnel of appropriate qualifications; 2) the emergence of social institutions that establish norms of relationships between members of communities; 3) the formation of the state as a body for managing the life of the entire society. The characteristic features of the current stage of economic development are: 1. High growth rate of the knowledge intensity of manufactured products. 2. Globalization is the process of uniting national states into a single economic, political and social entity in order to reduce production costs. 3. Replacement of financial capital, which played a leading role in the emergence and development of new industries, with human capital. The need for an ever-increasing number of people capable of translating new knowledge into technology is transforming the education system from an element that serves the economy with personnel to an element that determines the creation and development of new sectors of the economy. The growing importance of human capital and the emergence of a “critical” number of people capable of translating their knowledge into technology, leads society to understand the need to change material values to moral ones as the basis for its survival. As a result, in accordance with the laws of development of artificial systems, the education system becomes a system-forming factor in the development of the “state” system, increasing the level of its democratization and humanization and thereby changing its main function in the 21st century to provide each member of society with the most favorable conditions for life and development.