the ivory tower?

(Friend Mick & his students extraordinaire. I thought it was too bad the kid worked up the nerve to ask.  I mean, just imagine the papers Mick could have had the pleasure of grading...)

Mick: So make sure your thesis is stated explicitly and foregrounded at the beginning of your paper. Make sure I immediately understand the claims you make in each paragraph by making clear, again--EXPLICIT, claims at their beginning. Make sense?
Student: Dr. Souders?
Mick: Yep? Got a question? Go ahead.
Student: Doesn’t “explicit” mean, like, something…like rude? Or like pornography?