What's With The Letter?

I worked with Triceratops as soon as I reported for duty at work at this institution . I was unofficially appointed as the secretary for the group. As a secretary, I prepared many letters. And all the letters were signed by Triceratops. 

I felt that it was not right, because I thought that only the personnel with authority - the Principal or the Senior Assistants - could sign letters bearing the school and the official government logo; and not Triceratops who was just an ordinary teacher. But it seemed that it was standard practice for Triceratops to sign all letters related to the group activities. Triceratops had done it for years apparently. 

So even though I felt that it was not right, I maintained the status quo. As per Triceratops' wishes, I wrote its name in every official letter that I prepared. Triceratops signed every single one of them before sending them off. The Principal knew about it, I supposed, but never put a stop to it. That meant that the Principal was ok with others in the school signing the official school letters?  Or did Triceratops only do it because the Principal did not want to sign them? Because I know that the Principal did not support the group nor its activities. One time, when I was still pretty new in the institution, I asked the Principal to sign a letter for the group, because at that time, he was the only person of authority around. The Principal made it clear to me that I was not to ask for his signature for such letters in the future. 

One day, Student A came to me and showed me the letter she would send to McDonald's to ask for sponsorship. It was a letter written using the school and the official government logo, and it was signed by Student A herself. I was aghast. Not only that, I was put off by the broken language she used in the letter. So as a teacher-advisor to her project, I edited the letter for her. 

I edited her sentences. I took out the logos and set the letter on a plain piece of paper. As a student, Student A would be sending a 'surat melalui' ... that meant that she had her own details at the top as the writer of the letter, with a verification by the Principal or a Senior Assistant's right below it. The Principal or the Senior Assistant would just annotate the letter to acknowledge it. 

The letter done, Student A went to see T-Rex to get its verification signature on her letter. However, T-Rex made a fuss of the letter. T-Rex refused to sign it. Then, T-Rex wrote a long message in the school's official messenger group, stating that the letter was a disgrace and would portray a bad image of the school to the public. T-Rex even asked rhetorically how was it expected that it sign such a bad letter. 

Poor Student A. She was caught between T-Rex and myself. Student A came back and asked whether she needed to revert to the first unedited draft of her letter. I insisted that the format of the first letter was wrong and her language was off-putting. I also told her in no uncertain terms that I refused to change my stand - because I knew for certain that Student A should not be using the official letterhead because she was just a student. 

Duh. Was it standard practice in this school that anyone and everyone could sign on letters bearing the official letterhead? Didn't they know that they did not have that authority to use the letterhead it in the first place? Wouldn't the public laugh at us for allowing a student to sign on an official letter from the school? So in the end, did Student A rewrite the letter according to the wishes of T-Rex, I had no idea. 

I was angry because T-Rex came between me and Student A. I thought I was the teacher-advisor, and not T-Rex. If T-Rex wanted badly to advise students, T-Rex should be assigned a group of students like the rest of us. And if T-Rex thought I did wrong in advising Student A, T-Rex should have come talk to me. Not that I would have changed my stand anyway - I would have insisted that it was wrong of Student A to use the school letterhead, and as a teacher, it was my duty to advise her on the right way of doing things. It was also VERY APPARENT that T-Rex did not know the protocols of letter-writing. And T-Rex was just getting angry at people for doing the right thing - making so much noise out over something that was not even right in the first place. Duh. 

I refer to this website : 

Hanya orang yang mendapat kuasa sahaja boleh menandatangani surat rasmi kerajaan. Orang yang memiliki kuasa itu ialah ketua sesuatu kementerian, bahagian, jabatan dan sebagainya. Misalnya, di sekolah, pemilik kuasa itu ialah guru besar (GB) atau pengetua.

Seorang atau beberapa orang pegawai kanan dalam sesebuah organisasi kerajaan boleh menandatangani surat rasmi. Antara contoh pegawai kanan dalam organisasi kerajaan ialah penolong kanan di sekolah. Pegawai kanan ini mendapat kebenaran untuk menandatangani surat rasmi kerajaan yang berkaitan dengan bidang tugas mereka sahaja. Mereka menandatangani surat rasmi bagi pihak (b.p.) ketua organisasi yang berkenaan.

Saya pernah menerima beberapa banyak surat yang melanggar kuasa untuk menandatangani surat rasmi. Orang yang menandatangani surat itu ialah guru biasa di sekolah.

In the same website, 

Penulis surat rasmi dalam kalangan guru pelatih dan guru perlu mematuhi prosedur “surat melalui” apabila menulis surat kepada pihak luar. Penghantaran surat mengikut prosedur “melalui” membolehkan pihak yang berkenaan mengesahkan kandungan surat itu. Selain itu, pihak yang berkenaan berpeluang mencatatkan ulasan, khususnya yang berupa sokongan, terhadap kandungan surat itu.

... surat keluar melalui saluran dalaman. Sebagai contoh pertama, katakan Lasimbang ialah pelajar Institut Pendidikan Guru (IPG) A. Apabila Lasimbang menulis surat kepada pihak luar, surat itu mesti melalui tutornya dan Pengarah IPG A. Sebagai contoh kedua, katakan Cikgu Jumain ialah guru sebuah sekolah rendah. Apabila Cikgu Jumain menulis surat kepada Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), suratnya itu perlu melalui GB sekolahnya dan PPD.

I have been in the school system for years, and I do know a little about letter-writing protocols. I would have probably written more letters than T-Rex. T-Rex did not know everything. T-Rex should have just read up or found out more. But T-Rex was either too lazy or too proud to do so. I guess it was easier for T-Rex to lash out. T-Rex after all, had to show us minions that it was in charge.

Only that to me, T-Rex was really ignorant and totally unreasonable. T-Rex was nothing but a big, big bully.