The article analyzes one of the major contradictions in the Russian education — the one between growing demands which teachers face in XXI century and very difficult economic and sociopsychological status of teachers in secondary schools. In the context of «pragmatization» and «technocratization» of society, denying the significance of the experience of the Russian intelligentsia as a social stratum and unbalanced relationship between social- and marketoriented elements in education system Russia may lag behind the advanced educational systems based on coherent values and modern teaching techniques. Such a lag would lead (and is already leading) to «dehumanitarization», and then to the dehumanization of society.