I'm not an instructor but in this case I don't believe the instructor did a good job.
If you sounded keen to fly the thing & showed no tendency to panic or grab things inapropriate! I see no reason why the "student" cannot be given control from the start, with the instructor "at the ready". A decent briefing would tell the instructor a lot about you.
I have taken passengers who have never flown light a/c before & after talking to them before flight & watching their reaction to the take off I often let them fly it from "flaps up" to downwind. No doubt instructors will condemn such behaviour, but so far it has been sucessful, always with keen friends not total strangers, but that is what the instructor should be able to assess.
Just my tuppence worth.