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Does beauty contribute to a person’s success?

BARCELONA — The students who descended on room 214 had paid their dues. Their Spanish classes were now focused as much on conversation as grammar and syntax.

The professors came armed with questions to engage visitors from various continents, each with histories all their own. Some expressed ideas they wouldn’t have shared at home.

The Italians, French and Portuguese had a Latin-root advantage over the others. Among the most articulate was a Frenchwoman named Mathilde Courty who was younger than the median age around the table.

The group assumed the question relating beauty to success to be directed at women. The men, intelligent men, held back.

It was agreed that voice, facial expressions and eye contact create their own kind of beauty, that vanity can turn a beautiful person ugly and that humor makes a plain person irresistible.

It was Matilda who posed a follow-up question.

Why do woman invest so much time making themselves attractive? Why the mascaras, powders, glosses, buffing and botox? And why are men exempt from the beauty arms race. Dandies once wore powdered wigs and cod pieces. Peacocks parade for hens.

Matilda is a wandering soul who has studied and traveled in Italy, Peru, England, Spain and Vietnam; she has lived in Bénin. Her Spanish studies are prep to serve people with disabilities in South America.

The good looks we inherit courtesy of our parents, the beauty we earn by making ourselves helpful and the beauty we enjoy simply by being young all were in display that final period of the day.

The rain had stopped and the conversation wandered outside to the tables on the sidewalk where it switched to English without anyone noticing.

Certain greetings are unfamiliar and some references sail over your head. Body language can be difficult to read and eye contact varies among students from Asia, Europe and the two Americas.

And you’ll discover another difference, one that’s less about country-of-origin and more about the territory that separates one generation from another. Attending an international language program is a visa that lets you slip across the border and explore the world of the young.

Based on our placement scores Erika Sciddurlo and I ended up in the same Spanish discussion groups for 25 hours a week over five weeks.

The kid’s a workhorse. She never seems to fade — you should see her notes. Erika comes to meetings as prepared as any suit I’ve worked with the corporate world. She happens to hail from the fashion center of Milan, and it shows.

She first surprised her parents by being born when her mother was forty eight years old, and then again by being the first in her family to attend college in pursuit of a career.

Our group discussions showed a wariness of multinationals, concentration of power, weapon sales and religious extremes. Young people are relaxed about race and gender and styles of families. Erika imagines living with a partner, having a child and then getting married — in that order.

The worldwide crash of 2008 left these new professionals guarded about the future. They’re studying Spanish knowing that multilingual skills will be essential in a global economy.

Their generation is about to inherit a to-do list with serious challenges (some my generation has punted on). Judging from my friends in Room 214 on Carrer de Mallorca in Barcelona, they’re more than up to the job.

They wrapped themselves in Spanish flags as a show of solidarity.These kids on the fanciest part of Diagonal Avenue struck this pose instantly, almost professionally.

They were on their way back from a loyalist march on the National Day of Spain. They had demonstrated for Cataluña to remain as part of Spain.

In the morning you could see a steady stream of flags headed toward the main plaza. Estimates from sixty to two-hundred thousand people had participated.

Four years ago massive showings of independence flags, the huge demonstration on Plaza de Cataluña, and the banging of pots and pans from open windows (a haunting event) shaped my notions about Cataluña’s push toward independence.

But today’s counter rally shows the other side of the debate. These young Barcelonans believe that preserving the union will serve their future best. Both sides use red-hot rhetoric to condemn their opponents and both have valid arguments worth considering. The media are playing to their bases.

This northeast corner of Spain is struggling with the same questions that roiled our colonies. Even though we had the benefit of limitless land and resources, it was touch-and-go for a good while.

An independent Cataluña carved out as a sliver on the Mediterranean coast would not have those advantages. And truth be told it’s hard to find a Washington, Jefferson or Franklin when you need one.