Da, those quotes all seem to agree rhat there is value in Secular studies on its own, it coexists separate from Torah, even though Torah is higher.
Torah isn’t higher. Hashem made the world from the Torah. It is the only thing valuable to Hashem and to us.
Rav hirsch looked at secular jews studies as a handmaid of the Torah, because he was frum. MO largely os guilty of ascribing something value outside of Torah, and this is akin to shituf.