Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look, in an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

English poet John Milton, author of Paradise Lost, wrote that the purpose of education is to, and I quote, repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God a right,

and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, by possessing our souls of true virtue."

Well, today, that kind of vision for education is largely absent, of course, and yet all

education, whether clearly articulated or not, assumes some vision of life with deep cultural and political implications.

This reality helps explain why the recent announcement from the Federal Department of Education drew such sharp reactions from across the political spectrum.

According to the announcement, the Department of Education will transfer several programs to other federal

agencies through a series of interagency agreements.

The senior department official quoted by ABC News said that these moves represent a major step

forward in downsizing the department and returning educational authority to the states.

Now, the plan does not eliminate

current programs. It outsources a number of them. For example, sections of the Office of Post-Secondary

Education will now be jointly managed with the Department of Labor. Other offices, such as those

overseeing civil rights complaints and federal student loans will remain within the

Department of Education. Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, noted to CBS News that this,

quote-unquote testing process may help Congress determine how it might eventually codify these

transitions into law, advancing the Trump administration's long-term goal of devolving education authority back

to the states, or even closing the Department of Education altogether.

Now, reducing government bureaucracy is almost always a good thing. However, any attempt to

minimize or eliminate the federal role in education without also reclaiming the telos, the purpose,

the end of education will ultimately fail. Returning authority to the states or improving

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