The various ways in which life can be said to have or to lack meaning are distinguished in this article, & examples from several ‘interpretations’ of the meaning or meaninglessness of life, are given. It is shown that every system of education necessarily imparts an interpretation of the meaning of life, even those which would claim not to do so. It is argued that if life were wholly meaningless, then there would be several possible policies for teaching the young, all of which would be necessarily arbitrary & meaningless – consequently the education of the young presupposes that life does have a meaning or meanings.