Punctuation, Capitalization, and Sentence Boundary Exercise
most educated people have heard of socrates plato and aristotle however few know
about isocrates who remains one of the more fascinating figures of classical times he
established the first stable formal school of higher education in european history his school
predated even the academy of plato and he had more influence on his athenian
contemporaries than did plato isocrates lived an extraordinarily long life for his era dying at
the age of ninety eight in 338 b c the fact that his body was rather frail makes his longevity
even more remarkable in other ways as well he does not fit todays popular conception of the
ideal teacher as a robust entertainer even though the main subject he taught was public
speaking he feared crowds and had a weak voice on the other hand he was dedicated to the
task of producing leaders for the athenian democracy and was a skilled writer he apparently
submitted his writings to his students in order to teach them the related arts of logical thought
written composition and oral delivery whatever his exact methods were they were evidently
successful since an impressive number of his students went on to prominence in various
public and professional fields the fact that this early educator accomplished so much despite
physical and emotional handicaps is astounding but perhaps even more notable is the wealth
isocrates accumulated one can think of no other teacher of the language arts who became so
rich as a result of his or her pedagogical efforts
(Rewrite in your own hand in dark ink, capitalizing where necessary and adding any needed
punctuation. Do not make any other alterations.)
*Devised and written by Paul L. Rowe, Ph.D
6/12/2013