I hate to defend Joseph but he’s probably correct on these quotes. We have accepted secular studies so we don’t think about them but it’s not so pashut.
According to Marc Shapiro’s book on the Seridei Eish, even in Europe there was a stratification between the educated and the uneducated. the shuls were stratified based on skill level , which is why you find things like the tailors’ shul or the wagon drivers’ shul. But even in Europe they insisted on no secular studies, even though it meant poverty.
Menu