You hear a great deal of advocacy for making institutions of higher education more like the real world. In the real world, people get sick and things have to be delayed as a result. When I broke my leg (messy compound fracture) and was hospitalized for a week, I had to have hearings in three levels of court adjourned because I couldn't be there. Nobody talked about holding me in contempt as a result. Sometimes it's the judge who is sick; the last thing I want for my clients is a judge who is ill and, as a result, cranky and distracted, sitting on the bench trying a case I am acting in. 

Do you really believe that "no excuses for delay accepted" is a rule that would work in the real world?