I remember anxiously waiting for the letter to arrive announcing the teacher my son would have for next year. Many times, it seemed like he didn’t have the best option. Now, as a teacher, it’s interesting to sit on the other side of the desk and wonder how many of my students’ parents think they could have done better.

In truth, most of the time when I was disappointed in my son’s location, he was proven wrong. Once given the opportunity, the teacher came and gave my son an excellent education. It is very easy to get caught up in rumors and speculation and believe that your child MUST have a particular teacher or they will be doomed. However, there are many factors that go into creating a cohesive classroom, and your child’s best interests are usually taken into account.

For example, would your child be better educated by a teacher who pushes him to work harder or is the soft approach better? Will the other children in the class form a complementary unit or are there children who are more disruptive? In the end, it’s part teacher, part students, and part how it works that makes a class successful.

Where I teach, we go to great lengths to create the most effective classes, getting input from the child’s previous teacher, the preschool principal, and sometimes the parents themselves. If we think that two students are preventing each other from being more successful, we work hard to separate them. If we think a child is better served in a smaller class, we make sure they are placed there. If there are children who need additional support, we place them in a class with an additional teacher.

In other words, it is not just the teacher who should or should not please you when you receive your child’s homework. Give it a try even if you don’t have your first choice. Instead, your child may have the best option for her.

And at worst, even a not-so-good teacher is a learning experience for the child. My daughter had a really bad teacher one year. I think it made my son have more doubts about his abilities. While I wish she hadn’t experienced that, it forced our family to work harder to instill confidence in our son ourselves. It taught him that sometimes you have to make a bad situation work, which is an important life lesson at any age.

So when you open your letter, stay positive. Have faith that your child will have a wonderful year.