#8-14 Years Old: Wearing T-Shirts in the Pool

Learning how to swim is a right of passage for Indians whose parents raise them in America. Along with tennis, piano, violin, ballet and SAT test prep, Indians must also start their careers of over-achieving young and in the pool.

Indian girls, however, usually grow into the stronger swimmers of the community because not only do they have to bear the weight of their parents' expectations while free-styling through the water but also the extra 8 lbs of the wet cotton t shirt their father forces them to wear over their bathing suits in public.