Isocrates, “Against the Sophist”

There are 5 different questions I need answered from the article Isocrates, “Against the Sophist” for my Rhetoric and Composition II class. Please help me! 

1. How do the sophists, according to Isocrates, mislead their students?

2. He claims it’s absurd that the sophists collect their money from the students up front. Why does he think that shows a contradiction in them?

3. He also says that the sophists do a bad job in that they teach rhetoric “as they would teach the letters of the alphabet.” What do you think he means by this analogy? Read the following passages carefully, as they expound his idea more fully.

4. Isocrates discusses what “formal training” offers and also what its limits are. Explain his views on this point.

5. Finally, Isocrates discusses whether good character can be taught. His answer is both yes and no. Explain in what sense he thinks yes and what sense no have 5 different questions that need to be answered.