A system of education is a unique social institution, the purpose of which is to develop and multiply human capital. Based on the education system it is possible to judge the situation in the country and society not only at the present time but also in the future. A system of education also should be seen as an ideological institution: it produces the ideas, socially significant ideals, worldview positions, and hopes that go together to make up the future society as a whole and the destiny of individuals. It is vital to understand the role played by the education system in a time of changes, when Russia is bringing back lost traditions and the culture of independence, initiative, and enterprise, overcoming dependency and laziness. Among the tools of instrumental modernization of the system of education, the most promising, when it comes to creating an open civil society with a well-developed system of horizontal communications and creating the conditions that are necessary for a new pedagogical culture in the schools and passionate creative endeavor on the part of schoolteachers, is the system of Internet communication, with vast instrumental opportunities for the use of Internet resources in the teaching and learning process. But it is not a good idea to oversimplify the situation. Outwardly, of course, Internet education is an instrumental pedagogical tool, but even today it has been recognized that its mastery leads to systemic changes in content, not only in education but also in society as a whole. The Internet is nothing more than a sign that heralds a new quality of civilization, which already is called "the information age." Any society that is not capable of taking in and mastering this new culture of a newly emerging civilization through its system of education will be doomed to steady decline and backwardness. This article discusses teachers' viewpoints on and knowledge of Russia's Federation of Internet Education, and discusses the pedagogical and social consequences of Internet education. (Contains 6 tables, 5 figures and 2 notes.)