A love story! Adapted from the 2nd book in Joseph Batory’s trilogy, Joey’s Story, 2002, Lanham, MD and London, UK. My wife Joan and I will celebrate our 53rd wedding anniversary in December of 2020. And so, people would probably be very surprised to know that we had an “arranged marriage.” Back in the 1960’s, […]

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Adapted from the 2nd book in Joseph Batory’s trilogy, Joey’s Story, 2002, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD and London, UK. As the superintendent of schools in Upper Darby over a 15-year period, I attended 453 consecutive evening School Board meetings. Most of them were not fun! That is because the democratic openness of a School […]

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Published in the Delaware County Daily Times Delaware County’s Daily Newspaper                 Friday, March 13, 2020 By Joseph Batory, Times Columnist   The history of Russia has been dominated by totalitarian leaders who have created ongoing episodes of massive oppression of human rights. The Soviet era (1922-1991) was among the worst, with dictators Lenin and later Stalin […]

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Published in the Delaware County Daily Times Delaware County’s Daily Newspaper     Thursday, March 5, 2020 By Joseph Batory, Times Columnist In the 1600’s in France, education was something for the rich alone.  For those born into poverty or from working class backgrounds, it was a certainty that these children would never receive an education. But […]

Read more "The Remarkable Legacy of Jean Baptiste de La salle"

Published in the Delaware County Daily Times February 25, 2020 By Joseph Batory, Times Columnist Ethics requires consistency—the absence of contradictions. As a guide for morality, ethics must be rational, and to be rational it must be free of contradictions.  Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University I have often written about and advocated the […]

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Published in the Delaware County Daily Times The Daily Newspaper of Delaware County (PA)       January 23, 2020 By Joseph Batory, Times Columnist  I have been a member of Rotary for more than 30 years, initially in the Upper Darby Club and more recently in the Rotary Club of Philadelphia.  And after all these years, far […]

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Published in the Delaware County Daily Times Sunday, January 12, 2020 By Joseph Batory, Times Columnist Having been a career educator for nearly 30 years, I admit to having very strong feelings about what constitutes good teaching. However, most of my educational perspectives have come from my personal experiences as a student. I have been […]

Read more "About Great Teachers…the Lesson of the Boxes!!!"

Published in the Delaware County Daily Times Delaware County’s Daily Newspaper     Sunday, January 5, 2020 By Joseph Batory, Times Columnist In 1984, when I was offered the opportunity to become the superintendent of schools in Upper Darby, I had one serious reservation. I had to learn more about the “political factor” before I would accept the […]

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Published in the Delaware County Daily Times Delaware County’s Daily Newspaper            December 30, 2019 By Joseph Batory, Times Columnist When I was graduated from La Salle College (not then a university), I was filled with idealism. I wanted to change the world by being the best teacher I could be. But no school district wanted […]

Read more "A Few Reflections on Good Teaching and Life"