Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix question

I think he saw some good in Draco, the boy who struggled with being a Death Eater and doing Voldemort's will. It was like Dumbledore's peer pressure to get him to do good. He was also trying to keep an eye on him. Draco could abuse his power, yes, but only so much as a prefect. He still had responsibilities and had to work with Snape, one would think.

Maybe because Draco thought that people had so little respect for him, and that nobody actually cared about him; Amongst other reasons, Dumbledore may have done it to boost his..morale? That one of the most 'good' wizards in the world placed trust in his hands may have stopped him from going towards the darkside of the force ;)

i think its because his head of house- Snape - recommended him.. :p

I think the prefect status is given out according to grades. Malfoy may be an antagonist character, but maybe he had the best grades of Slytherin. But this reason doesn't really apply to Ron though, he had really lousy grades...

READ BETWEEN THE LINES IN YOUR OWN WAY!

He did show natural leadership, from the beginning.

I think he believed there was good in Draco but he also saw what was coming. I think he was trying to set him on the right path.

I think he knew Malfoy had some good in him, which he did (not being able to kill dumbledore etc.)

Cause he felt like it. idk

Above everything else Dumbledore is a teacher. Prefect budgets are given away not based on "I like the student" basis. We might not like Malfoy, Dumbledore might not like Malfoy (although "not like" is to strong of a word). But after everything, Malfoy was one of the most prominent students in Slitherin. Not as much in terms of his academics (although it wasn't to bad either), but in terms of his leadership qualities. Considering the sorts of kids you have in the Slitherin house, Malfoy was probably the only choice. Everybody else would have been just as bad, but not as respected.

1)Dumbledore is a very sympathetic kind of person; he likes to see the best in a person in is always ready to give them second chances
2)maybe he wanted Draco to feel good for once and not think he was messing it all up like he does normally; trying to boost his self confidence and make him better
3)wanted to keep an eye on him
4)seriously about all the people we have read in the series was their anyone better than him from Slytherin?!
5)his own private joke - he/JK has to give Draco some favors after obsessing about Harry and it kinda adds something to the story and Harry/Draco relationship
6)it would have been an insult to not make him a prefect

Hmm. I found myself wondering the same thing. I think Dumbledore saw some good in Draco. I also think that he secretly hoped Draco would be a good person if he was given a responsibility, but he was wrong. Snape probably recommended him. Maybe, Dumbledore thought that Draco would stay close to him if he was made Prefect, so Dumbledore would be able to talk to him and persuade him to be a good person, and also make sure he doesn't turn to the Dark Side. I don't know.

I agree with Sanday, I think it was to keep an eye on him. I think Malfoy would have turned up good before book 7 if he had the chance to proove wrong but he had bad influences.

I think he picked Draco because he wanted to show everyone at Hogwarts that not every Slytherin is evil. Yes, he abuses his position, but I think most people would in that situation. Even a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff. By trusting Draco with the position of Prefect he shows that you sometimes have to forgive people for what they've done and trust them, even though they might be your enemy, to win a war.
If I remember correctly it is in 5th year that the sorting hat sings about house unity, and I think that by making the 'evil' Slytherin, Draco, Prefect Dumbledore tries to show unity. He is giving Draco a chance to show that he is not his father and a chance to step away from the path his father has set out for him.

I think of all Slytherins, Malfoy is probably the most reasonable. I would have picked Malfoy, too.

I think it's something that the author had to put in to make it more interesting... I don't really think Dumbledore would have picked him. Dumbledore's obviously smart enough to pick who he wants.

But he had a good heart. or maybe it was all some sort of ingenious plan he had concocted in his mind. . . that sort of makes him sound evil. . .

You seriously think anyone in that year of Slytherin would have been better? Crabbe, Goyle and Zabine are the other choices we know about and how are they any better than Malfoy? Besides Pansy Parkinson was the girl and she was waaaayyy worse!!

I think it made it easier to keep an eye on him and possibly tie up his time a bit with prefect duties.

perhaps he thought he could watch Draco better if he encouraged the boy to stay close

I think he had a hidden meaning. Maybe it had to do with something else...
But I don't think we'll ever know...