Prefects paid

[alhewison]

No: HPFGUIDX 37703

> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "finwitch" <finwitch at y...> wrote:
> > Hermione's going to be a prefect. That already means she has her 
> > *own* private bedroom. (Percy said something to the effect of 
> > prefects having their own rooms in book #1...) 

> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "blpurdom" <blpurdom at y...> wrote:
> Could you please find this reference?  I don't believe it actually 
> says that.  Percy indicates that there are compartments on the 
> Hogwarts Express that have been set aside for prefects, but there 
> has always been every indication that even when a student is 
> appointed a prefect, he/she continues to live the same dorm-mates 
> they've had since first year.  Which only makes sense; if the 
> prefects are supposed to augment the instructors by being their 
eyes 
> and ears when the instructors can't be present, it would be 
> difficult for them to do that if they are not in the same dorm.  
> There are numerous fanfics that put prefects and especially Head 
Boy 
> and Head Girl in separate quarters, but we should remember that 
> we're discussing canon here, not fanon.
> 

Finwitch wrote:

> > Prefects might get *paid* for all I know(10 Galleons a week?), 
and 
> > Ron might take on teaching job(teaching first-years things wizard-
> > borns take for granted) or work at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. And 
> > Harry would give them quite a Wedding Gift to live on for 
> > starters...
> 
--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "blpurdom" <blpurdom at y...> wrote:
 
> Now, I'm afraid this is getting more and more unlikely the longer 
> this goes on.  Prefects being paid?  I believe if that were true 
> Percy would have been paid as Head Boy as well, possibly paid more 
> than prefects, which would have been something else he could have 
> lorded over the other people he knew, as he lorded over them the 
> fact that he was a prefect and then Head Boy.  The Weasleys being 
> rather cash-poor all the time, Percy getting paid for going to 
> school would have been a topic of conversation, especially if Ron 
> stood a chance of borrowing money from him.  None of this 
happened.  
> I'm afraid that when you propose a theory, you have to be prepared 
> for all of the implications of the theory, and this just does not 
> wash at all.


Given all the talk about prefects and how they might be appointed, I 
thought I should mention how prefects were appointed at my school - 
and also at my friends schools - in England. I have only ever heard 
of prefects being appointed by teachers, never by the students 
themselves. I have certainly never heard of them being paid. The 
reality it is that they act as "dogsbodies" doing many of 
the "leadership" style tasks that teachers did not want to get 
involved with. For instance stopping kids dropping litter, making 
sure kids don't go to places where they were not meant to be. The 
reward for being a prefect, is in the honour of being asked to be 
one, and then being able to put on your CV that you were one. (I also 
know of schools though where every student in the 7th Year was a 
prefect as not many kids stayed on after their O'Levels/ GCSEs, so in 
that scenario, not even much of an honour).

Again, whilst this is only an example of my school, the prefects did 
have their own "common room" (I don't know if this is a phrase which 
translates out of the UK, but their own special room), but, they were 
still fully fledged members of their houses. The room was their only 
additional priviledge. 

My school was a day school so there was no issue of giving prefects 
their own separate bedrooms. I think though that this would be 
unlikely at Hogwarts. So much emphasis has been placed on the Houses 
of Grffindor etc being like families, that to change the cosy little 
dormitories that the students have been accustomed to, would surely 
change the dynamics too much - and create animosty - in a way that 
allowing them to have a more luxurious bathroom woud not.

For prefects (and Head Boy) think unpaid dogsbody - but what an 
honour!

Ali

(who was never a prefect, and has no regrets!)