Column
‘Cheer’ Is a Lesson on How Not to Treat Young People
The hit Netflix show is a reminder of how resilient kids are, and how often adults fail them
If you’d asked me about cheerleaders a few weeks ago, I would have told you that they seem like great athletes who don’t get their due — the female-dominated sport is better known for participants’ makeup and skirts than their tough athleticism. But that was about as far as my knowledge went.
By the time I finished the hit Netflix series, Cheer, though, I was ranting to my husband about basket tosses and flyers. If team member Jerry didn’t “make mat,” I insisted, I was going to drive down to Texas.
Such is the emotional response that Cheer provokes. The docuseries, which follows the championship-caliber cheerleading team at Navarro College, a junior college in Corsicana, Texas, and their head coach Monica Aldama has been a smash success. The reviews are all raves, celebrities are tweeting their obsession with the series, and Twitter is abuzz right along with me.
But as I rooted for this amazing group of young student-athletes, I couldn’t help but feel furious at the adults who surrounded them. The mother who “reminded” her daughter not to eat too much, the teacher insisting in the classroom…
