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Abstract: The article discusses the present urgent problem of low interest of secondary school leavers in technical professions. Its emergence is linked to the quality of polytechnic education. Polytechnic training of secondary school students is considered as one of the significant social factors that affect the provision of society with skilled engineers and workers. The article considers the existing secondary school tradition of realization of the principle of polytechnic education. The analysis is based on the results of a sociological research. The study reveals the attitudes of teachers and students to the study of machines and devices, specific features of polytechnic education and methods and forms of its organization. The results obtained, according to the authors, demonstrate the "starter" level, typical of all Russian regions, at which technical education of young people and formation of their professional interests begin. It is argued that the practical polytechnic education does not fully provide the level of technical culture of secondary school leavers demanded by the modern society, and does not contribute to their orientation towards technical professions. The article discusses the possible ways out of the crisis in the field of skilled labor force provision. The authors substantiate the need to change the paradigm of polytechnic education. The general ideas of the new paradigm include: the development of students' technical knowledge of a new type — knowledge about the technical constituent of the modern scientific worldview (the set of fundamental ideas, principles and concepts of the technosphere); the formation of students’ technical culture and regulation of its required level; «techno-socialization» of students (guarantee of conformity of their technical culture with the modern stage of social development). The authors define the meaning of the notion of "technical culture of personality". The importance of formation of students' specific and generalized technical knowledge is considered to be its basic component. The notion of "metatechnical knowledge" (knowledge of the technosphere: its structure, content, patterns of operation and development) is introduced into scientific circulation. The content of this notion is also considered. In the given context, technology is considered not only as a tool but also as a social phenomenon. Generalized technical knowledge (with reference to its social context) is defined as a strategic regulative instrument of human life in techno-environment that provides adequate models of formation of technical behavior and activity of persons. Under the new paradigm of polytechnic education, the content of the principle of polytechnism is specified. The new approach to polytechnic education was tested by the authors in a pilot pedagogical experiment. The authors believe that practical teaching of this kind may contribute to the solution of the problems of formation of the modern technological culture in young people, the development of interest in technology and the subsequent increase in the number of school leavers who choose engineering professions. The theoretical foundations of this study draw on the works of P. R. Atutov, N. A. Berdyaev, A. T. Glazunov, A. V. Litvintseva, A. I. .Polovinkin, N. V. Popkova, S. V. Shukhardin, M. Heidegger, T. Imamichi and others. The point of view on the content of polytechnic education suggested in the article may be of interest to teachers and specialists in methods and in the field of sociology of education.