page_title: South High School (Minneapolis)
section_title: The New South
hierarchical_section_title: South High School (Minneapolis) / History / The New South
caption_attribution_description: English: The front doors of Minneapolis South High School.
context_page_description: Minneapolis South High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the Corcoran neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. A member of the Minneapolis Public Schools district, it is both the oldest and largest public high school in the city of Minneapolis, founded in 1885 and with a student population of 1,847. The school's principal is Brett Stringer, who is assisted by three assistant principals and administration from each Small Learning Community.
context_section_description: The open house for the new South High School was held on October 11, 1970, exactly two years after the groundbreaking ceremony.
  
  At this time in history, the nation was experiencing great turmoil within its boundaries due to the prolonged Vietnam War and the government's cover-up of vital information about the true progress of the war. Construction for the New South began in 1968, the year when public opinion of the war took a big turn for the worse. Just a few months before the gala open house for the new building the Kent State shootings occurred – four students were killed by National Guardsmen during a protest of the war and of government policy, sparking a new round of student protest across the nation. 
  From the outside, South looks like a brick fortress. The new building was possibly made to counter the student unrest of the times. Windows are absent from the original building. Windows are prone to shatter easily unless expensive shatterproof glass is used. Structures of this time period tend to lack windows, which could be quickly destroyed by any violent protest around them, a common occurrence, making them at best expensive to replace and at worst a public safety hazard. The original floor plans also changed with more additions, such as the third floor, added in the late nineties with the seeming innovation of windows. [NOTE: this is not confirmed by any architectural or other proposals or plans. In fact, the architectural design reflects the designwork done on countless office buildings at the time.]
  However, students at South High were given an equally plausible alternative explanation for the somewhat prison-like structure. The architect for the New South Project was from Texas, and his interpretation for energy efficiency over the long winters caused him to eschew any extensive use of windows. Additionally, when the building first opened, it was an "Open School," with no individual classrooms on the second floor. The small windows used in the design provided light across the open area. Only when the school was converted to typical classroom divisions did the lack of natural light become an issue. [NOTE: according to the architectural plans, the building was designed to meet the needs of the modular programming. This required an open resource area, lined by resource rooms. When the district decided modular programming was not working, the walls were constructed to return the school to a more traditional setting. It was at this point that the lack of windows became a problem and the "maze" was necessary in order to meet classroom size and number requirements. The original plans accommodated 1500 students, but South's enrollment has held steady at 2,000. The building is still short at least 7 classrooms, despite the internal remodel to meet growing needs.]
  The original floor plan was open, in keeping with the educational philosophies of the time. Ideally, such a configuration would allow for shared learning among students in different classes. But the open floor plan produced distractions and additional interior walls were added later to separate different classrooms from one another. The construction of classrooms after the fact created a "rabbit maze" of identical hallways, and in some instances classrooms that are only accessible via other classrooms.
caption: "Front" (west) doors of South High School. The true entrance is adjacent to the parking lot on the south side of the building.
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