Abstract
The article considers education as a system that plays an important role in the development of the whole society. An attempt is made to systematize the main characteristic features of the education system, as well as its teaching methods in each historical period of the development of civilization. Thus, the models of an educated person, characteristic of each historical stage, are determined. Within the framework of the topic under study, the modern education system is also considered, the main principles of which are openness, continuity, humanization, its national orientation. However, it should be noted that in modern realities, given the spread of the pandemic caused by the coronovirus infection, the education system has undergone significant changes. It was transformed into a new distance learning format, while retaining its content and essence. In the process of adapting education to the new prevailing conditions, both positive and negative aspects of this transition are identified.