Oh no, the assumption is that people know very little except what they hear over and over. In fact, it's almost a given that people know very little.
How did you get to the idea that academic knowledge is intended for the masses? Academics still think it's for the selected few and it's quite obvious that the masses seem to agree.
I beg to differ. The only books worth reading are the ones were people transcribe facts and do not give feelings and opinions. So people can read the facts and don't have to travel to all the caves. The moment books have feelings and opinions, those books are worth nothing and people should travel every cave.
You seem to have a higher appreciation of people's intelligence than I do, because all of your premises start with the idea that people know things. My original point, and I stand by it, is that people know little, care less and are happy to value emotions over facts because those require less studying.