Gasan Guseynov - Doctor of Sciences in Philology, Professor, School of Philology, Faculty of Humanities, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Address: 20 Myasnitskaya St., 101000 Moscow, Russian Federation. E-mail: gguseynov@hse.ru

An answer is sought for the question as to why the United States remain the most attractive place in the world to get tertiary education despite its permanent secondary school crisis, based on what David Cohen reveals about U.S. education as well as what he would probably prefer not to disclose but which becomes obvious from his book. The U.S. tertiary education system makes good use of the best outcomes of secondary education from all over the world to develop the most advanced forms of higher education. Their  education system rests on a self-organizing social environment, which has been great at adjusting to changing global trends. The attitude towards education as a constantly renewing process of criticizing the foundations and traditions of teaching is a key element of the worldwide influence of American universities. The article is focused on describing the mechanisms of adjusting the social environment through the development of outstripping forms of educational institutions and projects.