<p>It is not adversarial when a professor publishes a syllabus in September which outlines the deadlines for the semester. It doesn’t show lack of flexibility when a professor refuses to make three different versions of a test to accommodate the kids who respected the deadlines outlined in the syllabus; the kids who are chronically unable to hand things in on time, plus the kids who might have a legitimate emergency (illness, death in the family, etc.) That’s reality. You’ve got the folks who get stuff in on time, those who have unforeseen emergencies, and those who suffer from “I’m a special snowflake” syndrome. I work with people like that- it’s not fun for the rest of us to have our own deadlines backed up because a team member thinks there will always be exceptions made for him or her.</p>