And that thesis is complete horse crap.
In a free market of school selection, it would not stand.
Utter nonsense. Evolution "stands" not because it happens to be taught in public schools (and you're "forgetting" to mention that it's taught in a great many private schools as well). Evolution is taught in schools (of all types) because it "stands" on its own, and it "stands" because every time people check the real-world evidence, it overwhelmingly supports evolution. In short, evolution "stands" because it's true, and keeps getting reconfirmed and revalidated over and over again.
I'd like to know where you got the bizarre notion that it's only some empty shell of a fashionable notion, kept alive only because people are told about it only in public schools... Come on, be honest -- you've been reading too many creationist pamphlets again, haven't you?
Just one Catholic high school in our large metropolitan area had more National Merit Scholars than all of the public high schools combined.
I'd like to see some documentation for this claim (it sounds like the kind of factoid that gets passed around avidly without being verified by its promulgators), but even if it's true, it's hardly a good indicator of academic excellence. The National Merit Scholar program is not automatically awarded based on merit -- a necessary step is that the student send in an *application*. Your statistic may simply be a result of that school aggressively ensuring that every student who meets the initial requirements gets off their butts and sends in an NMS application, whereas other schools left it up to the students themselves (resulting in far lower application rates).
A much better indicator would be raw SAT rates or some other indicator which is not as "self-selecting" as the NMS program.
Secondary Schools
Aiken College & Career High School (9-11)
Aiken Traditional (11-12)
Aiken University (9-12)
Clark Montessori (7-12)
Dater High School (7-12)
Entrepreneurship (9-12)
Hughes Center (9-12)
Jacobs (11-12)
School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) (4-12)
Shroder Paideia (7-12)
Robert A. Taft Information Technology (9-12)
Virtual High School (9th grade to age 22)
Walnut Hills (7-12)
Western Hills Design Technology (9-12)
Western Hills University (9-12)
Withrow International (9-12)
Withrow University (9-12)
Woodward Career Technical (9-11)
Woodward Traditional (11-12)
Satellite Schools
Beech Acres
Beech Acres West
Children's Home
The above Cincy Public schools had only 1 school with Merit Scholars: Walnut Hills High School had 2 Nat'l Merit Scholars.
On the other Hand just ONE of the Cincinnati Catholic Schools, Xavier High School, had 6 national merit scholars.
In the county, private and Cathoic Schools had 17 National Merit Scholars and the public schools combined had only 14.
The total public school population is FAR larger.