The systems theory is an irritation for educational science. The thesis put forward by Niklas Luhmann and Karl Eberhard Schorr, that the generation of an independent standpoint in educational science is only possible through self-reflection of the system, was long considered a provocation in educational science. The book "The Education System of Society," published in 2002 from Luhmann's estate, once again challenges educational science: if a sociological external description of the education system is available, then it must also be taken into account by this system. The authors of this book engage with this challenge. They inquire about the difference this description makes for educational science and how its processing by the system can become a vademecum in the search for a contemporary educational science.