A troublesome question that first confronts a researcher into character education is the concept itself. In other words, it is incumbent of one to specify the particular version under consideration. The purpose of this study was to draw on two ready-made frameworks for classification, of which the most popular and influential version, i.e. character education in a non-expansive sense, which is generally characterised in terms of the inculcation of virtues, is chosen as the target of discussion. In contrast to the elusive large concept of character, terms related to virtue are more concrete and easier to operationalise, and it seems to make sense to shift the focus from character to virtues, and characterise character education in terms of the inculcation of virtues. However, the case is made that for character education to precede more productively, some misgivings and shortcomings of this (over)simplified characterisation needs to be taken into full account and properly remedied. The most important issue is that character education runs the risk of giving the false impression that it is nothing more than a duplication of the ‘bag of virtues’ approach. Secondly, the cultivation of the various virtues is emphasised at the cost of paying due consideration to the inevitable outcome, namely, the individualisation of (moral) character and its sister thesis of the varieties of moral personality. Finally, considering the multiple senses of character and the primacy of the ethical sense of character, it is argued that non-expansive character education is defensible with the caveat that it is ‘moral character’ rather than ‘character as a whole’ that is at issue.