Perennialism focuses on disciplines, literature, and accomplishments that have stood the test of time in a teacher-centered approach. The learning focuses on disciplining the mind through studying subject matter like mathematics, languages, logic, and great books, whether directly applicable or not. Robert Maynard Hutchins was president of University of Chicago from 1929-1948 and edited Great Books of the Western World, advocating an approach to organized knowledge through lectures, intellectual skills through coaching, and understanding ideas and values through the Socratic method.