While getting dressed for school one day last fall, Robert Parker had no idea what a simple decision could do to his day.

But the junior at Westerly High School in Providence, R.I., quickly realized that few things are more frightening to school administrators than controversial T-shirts.

Parker arrived at school wearing a White Zombie T-shirt. This wasn’t just any concert T-shirt, though.

According to an article in the Providence Journal, the shirt had a “devil-like” animal on the front and the number “666” on the back, which school administrators said were disrupting a classroom.

Four students complained about the shirt in class and asked Parker to take it off. Parker refused and was subsequently sent home.

After the school banned the T-shirt, Parker and his mother appealed to the Department of Education, which is in the process of hearing the arguments.

Officials at the school gave all sorts of reasons why the T-shirt should not be allowed in the classroom.

They said the “satanic” symbols upset the school’s educational atmosphere. They also said the band’s lyrics promote violence, so the shirt was disruptive to students.

The school administrators even went so far as to request Parker be interrogated by a psychiatrist specializing in cults.

Parker said he isn’t involved in any cults, and in fact, he only wears the T-shirt because he likes the band’s music.

But even if he were a satanist, Parker has a constitutional right to express himself.

Westerly High School has absolutely no business saying “satanic” symbols aren’t allowed in schools. Schools by law cannot regulate the content of a person’s religious T-shirt, unless it is vulgar or obscene.

After all, while the number “666” may be offensive to some people, the phrase “John 3:16” may be equally offensive to others.

And disruptive lyrics? Although White Zombie’s lyrics might very well be disruptive in a classroom setting, Parker wasn’t playing any music. He was wearing a T-shirt.

The real problem here is not the disruptive nature of the T-shirt; it’s the close-mindedness that the administrators are perpetuating.

Unless America’s schools learn to foster principles of free speech and to develop open minds, they will graduate intolerant students who can’t decide for themselves between right and wrong.

And that is more frightening than any White Zombie T-shirt.