EDUCATE vs. RAISE

Good morning / afternoon / evening everyone, depending on when you are reading this lesson. Welcome back to the Daily Vitamin.

Yesterday we explained the difference between the adjectives EDUCATED (someone who has received a good formal education) and POLITE (someone who behaves courteously).

Today we are going to learn the difference between the verbs TO EDUCATE and TO RAISE. Both words are often used to refer to children.

TO EDUCATE
It means: to teach someone or provide education or schooling to someone. It is often used in the passive form (to be educated somewhere or by someone).

Example 1: Jeremy was educated in a traditional and quite strict boarding school, whereas his sister had quite a progressive education.

Example 2: My parents, my brothers and sisters and I all had Mrs. Kelly as a primary school teacher. She has educated generations of children in this town.

TO RAISE
It means: to care for, teach and socialize a child at home. A synonym for this verb is to bring up a child. It is usually done by parents or guardians (tutores legales).

Example 3: My parents raised me to be polite and considerate of others.

Example 4: Do you think that children today are being raised with different values than in the past?

From the above examples, you can see that the Spanish word educar is a false friend that means raise when it refers to the relationship between parents and guardians and their children. We only use the verb educated when it is related to teachers and students.

⇒ To get some writing practice in English, I encourage you to write your own sentence (or two) with today's words. You can post your sentences on one of our social media sites (Facebook or Bluesky) and we will give you feedback about your writing ASAP.

Enjoy the rest of your day!