В статье раскрываются идеи Януша Корчака о разумном воспитании в противовес авторитарному и радикальному свободному воспитанию. Проводится параллель с появившимися в начале ХХ века новыми подходами к воспитанию известных европейских педагогов Л. Гурлитта, Э. Кей, М. Монтессори, С. Френе, А. Нейлла и Г. Винекена. В данном контексте анализируются характеристики старой и новой педагогики, природа, содержание и характеристики нового воспитания.

The 21st century has reconfirmed the ancient truth, “a man is the measure of everything”. The consequences of the scientific-technical progress and the development of the civilization have proved to be contradictory: the potential created by a human being has suddenly turned out against its creator. A famous Russian researcher Grigory Kornetov states:
“World wars and mass genocide, nuclear threat and environmental disasters, the deadlocks of scientism and an educational crisis – these are just very few features of the 21st century civilization that is so proud of its democracy achievements, sci-ence-technical progress, and unprecedented level of material production. In these really complicated circumstances a human being becomes a measure of all things, the highest uncontested value, alpha and omega of social progress, its purpose, meaning, criterion, driving force, and an ultimate result”
These new conditions could not but affect fundamental concepts of the theory of education, especially the very term “education” and the determination of its nature.