Normally I think you're right about these things, but between the ivory tower comment, and the sentence after, I think there's an implied argument that's pretty

Normally I think you're right about these things, but between the ivory tower comment, and the sentence after, I think there's an implied argument that's pretty relevant to the situation. That argument being that the academic approach hasn't lead to people having a more accurate image of history. It has scared them off and resulted in most of them having almost no knowledge of history. The approach doesn't seem to lead to it's intended goal. The comment was perhaps made a bit crassly, but I think it's something worth considering.