PREFECT OR HOUSE CAPTAIN?

Firstly, let’s set the scene. You’re in year 12, and are thinking of being head girl or boy. Unfortunately, much to your dismay, you are not offered the place. However, what you are offered is either to be on the Prefect team or be House Captain. But you want the more respectable, the higher ranking, and the better-recognized role. So what do you do?

You may think that there isn’t much difference, that all roles have the same status, but others may disagree with you. In some schools, the house system is as big as it was in Hogwarts, but others may just say ‘pfft’ to the whole concept of Houses. I, for one, agree with the second idea. We have a House system, but no matter how much the heads of house try to make it into a big thing, to me it is just an additional feature, although I know some disagree.

So I got around asking people what they thought of each position and which they’d go for:

“I’d probably go for House Captain, because we take the house system really seriously, so this would result in a much more valued position. Obviously, the prefect team are important, but because of the ways of the school, House Captains have more responsibilities,” a student from a Croydon girls’ school told me. 

Someone from a different school replied, “Prefect. No doubt. I’m only saying this, as despite the many opportunities for winning House points at various inter-house competitions, I believe that becoming a Prefect is much harder than receiving the House Captain badge.”

However, despite this, I found out that some universities automatically think that House Captains have a much bigger responsibility than Prefects.

So which would you choose?