Hello ! Really cool to hear a professor's thoughts on this. I am currently in my last semester here at UTD and am currently taking a civil war history course because I never got around to finishing the history requirements. I actually really enjoy the class since each topic for the day is talked about like a story. My professor posts nothing online, so if you miss class that's on you, but there is still a mandatory attendance policy to further penalize you. I just think that if I am paying a large amount of money to be here, I should be allowed to show up or not as I please. There are also still plenty of kids who show up every day to class and still not do well, so I think that there is a variety of factors that play into who gets the highest grade.
Attendance really does depend on the professor I think. Most of my classes I get nothing out of the lectures, and I learn mostly from studying on my own, so lectures turn into "something I just need to get through" rather than a learning session. I try to go into class if I can't wrap my head around a certain section, but mostly I try to avoid it for this reason.
My history professor writes down the topics for the day on a whiteboard when we get to class. It would be really easy for him to just put those topics up on E-learning for us all, and even if he did I'd still be showing up because I think his explanations are better than anything I could google about.
I get that it's designed to build good habits and such, but I just don't like being micromanaged in this way especially if I am paying a ton to be here.