In this work, the authors observe that today economically developed countries are gradually coming to the conclusion that mass (factory) education has fulfilled its role in the 20th century. In the 21st century, the system of scientific knowledge and the consciousness of people of the digital age are developing exponentially. The 20th century education was focused on the economic needs of the country, and in the 21st century its focus is on socio-economic issues. The authors show that there are still debates among scientists about the role of education in the system of social and / or technological aspects of the development of society. The question of how can education be transformed to reflect the rapidly increasing processes of transformation in the world is to be answered. Based on the genetic approach to analysis, the authors tend to believe that the more fragmented professional activity becomes, the more global and fundamental knowledge should become. The authors come to the conclusion that future knowledge should make a departure from reductionism and move to the fundamental understanding of socio-economic processes in the world. Therefore, the modern approach to the construction of the 21st century education should be based on more complex, self-reflective and organic ways of thinking. This paradigm shift will be vital and can help young people prepare for life in 21st century.