I think it's unnecessary. I know that as a teacher you need to ensure that conditions are fair and no one has the chance to manipulate an advantage, but things happen in people's lives and writing a test late isn't the end of the world. That being said, so many of my classmates try to scam teachers and I'm sure they just get sick of it, so they impose a really stringent system.

People will say that second chances don't exist in university/the 'real' working world, but it's seriously relative to the situation. Some bosses and professors will be more lenient than others, so the "I'm teaching you a lesson about having a doctor's appointment and forgetting to tell me" approach isn't completely relevant to life. As a student with a teacher like that, you eventually have to learn to look out for yourself and take as many precautions as possible against losing marks for frivolous reasons. Like, you know your teacher is a hard-ass? Remember to call.