Correlation does not prove causation.
Even if the author was unbiased in his collection and analysis of data (he was a professional Protestant scholar after all), the author himself repeatedly points out Government policies as the cause of the discrepancy - the difference in (largely Catholic) French and (nominally Protestant) British educational policies in their colonies.
Nonsense!
There why did Catholics build the first hospitals?
Why did Catholics establish excellent schools?
Nonsense!
Then why did Catholics build the first hospitals?
Why did Catholics establish excellent schools?