And in what sense could he be called wise?
Can you please help me in this essay assignment?
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There's a lot of interesting features to the question.

First, you need to consider how serious Socrates is being vs. how much of a joke he's making of the whole thing. Second, it's important to realize "Socrates" is a character Plato is using and the *Apology* is largely agreed to not be a factual representation of what's going on (See [What did Socrates mean by " there is no more fitting reward than maintenance in the prytaneum"?](https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/28527/what-did-socrates-mean-by-there-is-no-more-fitting-reward-than-maintenance-in) and [Did Plato record actual conversations in his dialogues?](https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/30278/did-plato-record-actual-conversations-in-his-dialogues)).

Building on these two considerations, we can trace the narrative form of Socrates' claim and then ask whether he's being a jerk to the people of Athens or he's just that genuinely inquisitive and naturally trusting of what others tell him. So here's the narrative as Plato writes it (at least on my reading):

1. Socrates is told that he's the smartest
2. Socrates denies this based on a "principle of charity" argument that merges these three features:

	* Socrates does not claim to be wise
	* Other people do claim to be wise.
	* Socrates accepts the claims of others at face value.
3. But this breaks down, because Socrates seeks out to prove the oracle wrong by proving others smart.
4. Socrates interrogates all of the people who claim to be wise and discovers they don't have any idea what they are talking about.
5. Ergo, Socrates is forced to conclude he is the wisest *because* he has the advantage over them of knowing that he does not know anything (whereas they claim to know things).

The face-value reading sounds plausible in a certain way, but it's also quite plausible to view him as never holding the naive belief that the people who said they were smart are not. 

If we want to restructure the argument in the terms of modern logic, we would state that he's doing a reductio against the assumption that they are wise and this forces him to recognize them as fools and thus himself as wise insofar as he doesn't make the foolish claim to know things.
Socrates did not understand the situation surrounding Chaerephon's visit to Delphi. Chaerephon went to ask the oracle at Delphi, "Of all the Greeks, who is wisest?" (Από όλους τους Έλληνες, ποιος είναι πιο σοφός;) The Pythia replied, “Socrates”, perplexing even Socrates.

Clarity comes when we understand the full circumstance of the Delphic interrogation. Whether it was the Pythia inspiring fumes or a swallowed stray fly, something caused Chaerephon to end his question with a strangled cough swallow that sounded somewhat like kolos. Thus leading the Pythia to hear Chaerephon ask,"Από όλους τους Έλληνες, ποιος είναι ο σοφότερος κώλος;" (Of all the Greeks, who is wisest ass?).