Oklahoma Teacher Says State’s High Schoolers Are Now Being Forced Into the Military

An Oklahoma public school teacher is blasting House Bill 3278, which stipulates that in order to graduate high school, students need to be enrolled in a university, attend a trade or technical school, or participate in active military service.

Teresa Kaye Newman (@teresakayenewman) argues in a viral TikTok that there are going to be throngs of students who will more than likely be forced into the military as a result of these new initiatives.

"Well, the Oklahoma governor just announced a new program for his public schools called Classroom to Careers. Which sounds great, doesn't it?"

The public school teacher argues that this isn't the case, however. "Except here's how it's gonna work. If you want to graduate high school in Oklahoma the only way that you can qualify to graduate is if you 1) Get accepted into a university."

She continued, "2) If you can't get accepted into a university or can't afford to go to university you have to get into a trade school or a technical college. Or if you don't wanna do that or cannot do that either, compulsory military enlistment."

The teacher went on: "Ask me if there are any exceptions for students with special needs in this program currently?"

She answers the question, before getting into why she believes this new program is so problematic: "No, there are not. If you're sitting there thinking, 'What's wrong with you? I don't understand the problem with this. This is just preparing students for their future, make sure that they have a job when they graduate,' You need to step back and think about some of the implications that a program like this brings along with it. You want your kid to get into a university so they can qualify for graduation?"

Newman doesn't think that this is the right way to go about setting students up for success in the future.

She proposes a scenario that many parents will probably face, seeing that the cost of Universities has skyrocketed exponentially in America within the last two decades. "Oh, but you can't afford it? Too bad. There's no FAFSA anymore. There's no Pell Grants anymore. There are no opportunities for your child to be afforded some kind of financial assistance, now that the Department of Education is gone."

Currently, the collective student aid debt in the United States stands at a whopping $1.753 trillion. This can largely be attributed to the caps being lifted on Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) which allowed 18-year-olds to sign up for loans worth tens of thousands of dollars for bachelor's degrees. Ultimately, this contributed to swarms of over-educated and underemployed individuals who held degrees in industries where there wasn't enough demand to fill.

In 2024, the FAFSA Simplification Act proposed changes to the way federal student aid funds are doled out to students. Pell Grants, according to the student aid service, will still be left intact. However, the qualifiers for the allotment of these funds have changed.

Newman continued to say in her TikTok: "Give a kid that's bright, hardworking, smart, well-deserved of a college education and can't afford it. That's too bad."

The teacher continued with her point: "Their next option is trade school or technical school. You know what? Acceptance into trade school and technical school isn't free either."

According to Best Colleges, the average total cost of tuition for a trade school or technical school ranges from $5,000 to $15,000. Costs that the website states is "significantly cheaper than a four-year college." Although some programs do cost up to $30,000.

This means that students will have to work part-time in order to subsidize their university or trade school costs or take out private loans in order to cover the cost of tuition.

"You can't afford that either, too bad, so sad. I guess your kid is gonna be in the Navy now," the public school teacher claims.

Those who have the means to go to a University and pursue a degree or career in the state of Oklahoma that they want or pay for trade school can stay out of military service.

Those who don't, in order to graduate high school, will then be forced to enter into active duty.

"All those children that do not have the capacity to do any of those things. What about them? Something about that smells like institutionalization and forced labor to me."

She proposed another scenario: "What if your kid wants to be an independent artist? Or musician or go to Hollywood to try to make it in movies or television? Or be an entrepreneur with a little bit of money they saved up? All of that is off the table unless you're a one percenter."

Newman capped off her video by stating: "School choice, parental rights. All that's a myth to earn your vote. They lied to you."

Numerous TikTokers seemed alarmed by Newman's clip. One person wrote: "So they're basically trying to initiate the draft without calling it the draft."

Another remarked, "The application fees alone might be prohibitive."

While another thought: "Then the state should pay for said requirements."