All of this is U.S.-specific:  *Some history on this:*  A specific college (I think it was actually a truck driver's school) reported that student's were attending classes that they weren't.  This caused funding issues and seemed to be unethical and possibly illegal.  So many schools were forced to take attendance (when I went to college, they didn't typically at the University level).  So then one has the obligation to attend lectures that had been basically miss-at-your-own-risk.  If I were the professor, I would typically always allow a student to attend a funeral, especially if it were a one-day-event.  For out of town or overseas funerals, the situation gets more complicated.

Also, in my post-academia work-world, I would think most managers would generally allow an employee to miss in this situation, though for certain jobs/situations that would not always be true.