The 'expressive power' of any system is defined by the concepts and functionality it provides to formulate (i.e., to 'express') solutions. One can think of the 'expressive power' of a system as the tools it provides to build solutions. This power is derived from the technologies it uses and the architecture of the system. Thus, solutions are constructed out of the concepts and functionality supplied by the system and are, in turn, limited by the inherent capacity of these concepts and their technology-based functionality.

Example -- For example, owners of shipping companies in the 1700s would have formulated their business concepts using terms like horses, wagons, drivers, bridles, horse feed, stables, dirt roads, etc., and functionality like 'hitching up the horses', 'loading the wagon', 'driving the wagon', 'substituting fresh horses', etc,. Their business concept would be expressed in and limited by the technological capabilities of these entities and their associated functionality (horses could only go so far in a day, they needed to be fed, wagon axles would break due to poor metal strength, etc.). In contrast, owners of today's shipping companies have more powerful types of entities (technologies) with which to formulate their businesses. They have trucks, internal combustion engines, shipping containers, engine fuel, paved roads, freeways, etc. These enable more powerful and efficient shipping solutions to be offered in the form of better products.

Today's Education Infrastructure is not Powerful enough to support Tomorrow's Education Solutions -- Similar to the shipping companies' examples above, the effectiveness and efficiency of today's education solutions are limited by the technological and system inadequacies of current education infrastructure. This infrastructure does not possess the inherent power to enable the formulation of the needed education solutions of the future.