Purpose. The article is devoted to the analysis of the results of an empirical study of the problems of education and upbringing in modern Russian schools. Currently, there is a certain disproportion between the tasks and goals stated in the regulatory documents and the results of their implementation. It is necessary to identify the magnitude of this disparity and show the main directions in the implementation of which it is necessary to take urgent measures. The methodological basis of the study was the activity and normative-value approaches outlined in a number of publications of the methodological plan on the problems of education and upbringing. The main features of the general crisis of education are highlighted and the conclusion about its systemic crisis is made. To obtain specific data, a research group of employees of UrFU and UIU RANEPA conducted an online survey of first-year students from four universities in Ekaterinburg (Ural Federal University, Ural Institute of Management RANEPA, Ural State University of Economics, Russian State Vocational and Pedagogical University). The study involved 1085 people - University students who graduated from school in 2018. The questionnaire was devoted to general problems of education, attitude to lecturers, as well as issues of career guidance, introduction of modern information technologies, etc. The results of the study revealed quite critical positions of school graduates on many of the issues studied. There is almost complete unanimity on the need to change the content of education, and the main factors that prevent improving the quality of education are named. This is, first of all, the lack of interest in the study of the students themselves and the lack of effective organization of the educational process. The lowest grades were given to the organization of the school education system. At the same time, the efforts made in the field of legal education received more positive evaluations, and the school leavers approved the forms of aesthetic education least of all. The choice of values made by school graduates in favor of value orientations that have an instrumental character is very indicative. The study on empirical data confirmed the existence of a crisis in the education system and showed the need and timeliness of management decisions to overcome it. In general, the study allowed us to specify the problems in the modern school.