American college and graduate education, for example, has supported the decisive U.S. role in the international services industry in research and development. consulting, design, packaging, financing, and the marketing of new products. Mergers and acquisitions are American subspecialties that raw on the skills of financial analysts and attorneys. The American failure rather, has been in the first 12 years of education. Unlike that of Germany and Japan (or even Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore), American elementary and secondary education falls well below the world standard.