Shelly Bryan Parker shared photos on Facebook earlier this week showing her daughter holding an English textbook, and a closer look at the register page shows that a student named Blake Shelton used the same book during the 1982 school year.
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"Marley is EXCITED that her 'new' reader belonged to Blake Shelton, but I am EMBARRASSED!!!! I'm 40 and these people are my age!!!" Parker wrote of the decades-old textbook, which clearly looks worn in her photos.
While some commenters on Facebook were critical of Parker's post and claimed that "literature is timeless," teachers came to her defense.
"Teaching methods, standards, and curriculum should and (hopefully) does [sic] improve through the years. A textbook from 35 years [ago] belongs in a museum!" wrote Barbara Dodge.
Shelton himself has not confirmed that the book was his, although he did grow up in Ada, the same town where Parker now lives, and Shelton would have been school-aged in 1982.
Parker's post about the old book comes as thousands of teachers around Oklahoma, which ranks near the bottom of the nation in teacher salaries, hold demonstrations demanding more funding for public education.
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Gov. Mary Fallin approved the first pay increase for teachers in more than a decade late last month, but the state's largest teacher's union is still pressing for additional revenue-raising plans to be put into place.
The Oklahoma protests follow a nine-day teacher strike in West Virginia, and similar demonstrations are taking place in Kentucky and Arizona.
"Thank you to every teacher/parent/support staffer/etc. for fighting for my kid's education!!! Don't give up until education is FULLY FUNDED!!!!" Parker told the demonstrating teachers in her post.