Ethical impotence occurs when one wants to act ethically but feels powerless to do anything about the perceived unethical behavior. One may feel that one's actions will have no impact or that those actions actually will have harmful consequences to oneself and/or others. Ethical impotence can be understood in terms of an eight-step model of ethical reasoning. It is important that students learn to act ethically, even when they fear their actions will come to naught or be potentially challenging in their consequences.