The future school as seen by sci-fi writers

The article presents the ideas of some Russian and foreign sci-fi writers concerning education in the foreseeable future. This issue was covered in a number of works of social science fiction, mostly published in the 1950-s - 1970-s. We show, that two trends - placing children in boarding schools and machine education are predominant. The former, according to I. Efremov and the Strugatsky brothers, will shield them from the possible negative impact of parents and the society. Education and upbrining will be vested in the teachers, whose status will be very high in the society of the future. The same approach, however, may be used as a means of educational segregation, when only the children of the elite will get proper training, whereas the majority of schools will raise law-abiding consumers, point out R. Bradbury and N. Gorkaviy. On the other hand, there will be no need in teachers and schools, according to I. Asimov, if the he second trend prevails. Such authors as K. Bulychev and G. Melentiev suggest, that classed will be replaced by interest-based groups. Soviet writers considered, that in the future school-children will have more guided tours, more academic mobility, will participate in project and research activity. So, this study shows, how the education in the XXI-XXIIIth centuries was viewed upon not long ago, and enables us to compare the vision with its current state and contemporary trends.