This doesn't really excuse the fact that Haskell is a harsh mistress that demands elegance. Many production languages are much more pragmatic about the quality of the spec, the quality of the developer, time constraints, and so on.
I don't know how true that remains for expert Haskell programmers, but I agree that it's the way most introductory to intermediate material comes across.
In academia, you are often looking for the most elegant tool in clean situations.
In industry, you are often looking for the least clumsy tool in messy situations.
Perhaps Haskell is a good choice in one context but a poor choice in the other, at least for those first learning it.