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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
In four pages this paper examines how Isocrates can be considered the ancestor of modern education, with supporting evidence provided from his speech entitled “Against the Sophists.” There are no additional sources listed in the bibliography.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGisocrates.rtf
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of concentrating on specialty areas, students should be introduced to a diverse curriculum that will provide them with skills in a wide variety of disciplines. Isocrates, himself, received an
impressive education that may well have included such illustrious instructors as Gorgias and Socrates. After the lengthy Peloponnesian War plunged his family into financial ruin, Isocrates elected to follow
in the footsteps of his famed teaching mentors. He opened a school of rhetoric in approximately 393 BC that included other subjects related to a greater overall understanding of
rhetoric, including language, writing courses, and civics. Isocrates believed that students could not become productive members of society until education provided them with the intellectual tools to do so.
His schools charged high fees, but their popularity was unprecedented for the period. For Isocrates, the classroom should never be static - it should be a stimulating environment
of opinion exchanges and spirited debates capable of changing with the times. Isocrates believed that specialty in a single area imposed unnecessary limitations upon learning. For this rhetorician,
there was more for pupils to be concerned with than the rules of rhetoric. After all, actions invariably speak louder than words. Isocrates first important written work, "Against the
Sophists," was an insightful commentary addressing prevailing philosophical attitudes. Apparently, at the time the educational profession was not in very impressive public stead. Many educators were expressing platitudes
on truth that was not being supported by factual data. To those, an angry Isocrates shot back, "If all who are engaged in the profession of education were willing
to state the facts instead of making greater promises than they can possibly fulfill, they would not be in such bad repute with the lay-public" (Isocrates). He then considered
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