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I have Googled ''President Obama's speech to schoolchildren'' in hopes of discovering just what it is the president might say that could have stirred up such a tempest.

Along the way, I've come up with plenty of stories about people's reactions to a speech that, apparently, none of them had yet read or heard.

The words that appear most often are ''outrage,'' ''furor,'' ''brainwashing,'' and even in one instance ''treason.'' My goodness!

Personally, I have a hard time imagining what the president could say that would justify such extreme reactions. I have an even harder time understanding how people can get so worked up about a speech they haven't heard.

Every year I welcome the new freshman class to Muhlenberg College with a variation on this central thought: You will learn more from those who disagree with you than from those who think like you do. I urge liberals to listen to conservatives, conservatives to listen to liberals, dancers to interact with football players, Christians to talk with Jews.

The goal, I always try to explain, is not necessarily to change your beliefs (though you should be willing to do so if swayed by a persuasive argument), but to develop the intellectual and analytical skills to know why you believe what you do. In other words it's not enough just to have the courage of your convictions, it's essential to understand the reasoning behind your convictions.

And the only way you can do that effectively is to listen to those who disagree. By being an active participant in the clash of ideas (that is, listening as well as speaking), you will have a better chance of discovering truth.

I believe this is appropriate advice for college students, but what about younger schoolchildren? Should we worry about them being more easily brainwashed?

When my own boys were in school, my wife Pat and I were highly vigilant about the books they read, the television programs they watched, the movies they attended with friends. Every night at the dinner table we grilled them about what they'd learned in school that day, what had surprised them, troubled them, confused them. And, of course, the inevitable question: ''What's the homework situation?''

Inevitably there were times they were exposed to ideas, values, habits, and language with which we did not agree. It never occurred to us to keep them home from school, and while there were certain movies and television shows they were not allowed to see (they complained that we were the only parents insisting on no R-rated movies until they were 17) we realized that you cannot keep children insulated from the ideas of others in this media-saturated age any more than you can protect them from a hurricane with an umbrella.

There were times, as a result of their exposure to the world, that our boys said and did things we found objectionable. More than once we had to remind them that ''in our family, we don't learn manners from television.'' I never worried, however, that exposure to the ideas and values of others would supplant the values that their mother and I nurtured in them every day.

It worries me that so many parents seem to be saying to their kids -- and to the rest of us -- ''I don't want my child listening to something or somebody I might disagree with, even though I don't know what that person is going to say.''

It's not only futile, it's depriving those parents of an opportunity to model civil debate, to discuss important issues with their children -- reinforcing what they believe, and why, and helping their sons and daughters develop as independent thinkers.

It's the kids who were never taught to think for themselves that are most susceptible to brainwashing. In the years to come, our fellow citizens will disagree about many things. Shouldn't we start teaching our children that it's OK to hear a variety of viewpoints, so they learn to evaluate what they hear and make good decisions?

While I was writing this, the White House posted the president's speech online. It can be summarized by this excerpt: ''Show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.''

Pretty dangerous stuff.

I would love to hear the debates around the kitchen tables of those who thought their kids should be protected from such ideas!