Recently, the need to turn away from technological education in general education schools and go back to labor training has been expressed, particularly by: (1) long-term teachers in the "Labor" (Trud) general education school who do not want to change their ways, go through retraining, and increase the amount of their work efforts in accordance with changes in the development of the rising generation, the labor market, society, and the country; and (2) administrators in institutions of general education, officials of ministries and departments, and science personnel who are unfamiliar with advanced world experience, do not want to change anything and are not listening to the appeals of the president in regard to the need to overcome Russia's technological backwardness. In this article, the author contends that if Russia is to increase its competitiveness and improve the life of its people, new approaches will be needed to prepare young people to enter the labor force in an economy that will experience continual technological change. (Contains 1 table.) [This article was translated by Kim Braithwaite.]