<p>OP, I would be upset as well. I agree with you that it is not your place to intervene, but I feel it is a form of stealing on the professors part. Stealing a piece of your child’s education and learning. If she wanted to learn the material on her own, she could have done that at home for free. Also, every time that professor misses class, they undermine the program just a bit more. Eventually, the graduates won’t know as much when they start their new jobs. The expectation of excellence from this highly regarded program will be diminished because the graduates will be coming out somewhat self taught and missing the critical component that those lectures would have provided. I agree that this happens in many businsees, our bosses aren’t there as much as they should be, people take off for maternity leave and such, but if the customer in those businesses aren’t taken care of by someone in those folks absense, they will eventually leave. Eventually if this goes on, sudents will chose to get their education elsewhere, employers will recruit at different schools, and so on. It is a slippery slope. One or two classes can happen, but if you are gone a month the administration should be finding a substitute.</p>