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Watch Shakira’s swearing-in speech on Thursday as part of President Obama’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. 

After the jump, read the full transcript of her speech, in which she stressed the importance of early childhood education for Latinos in the United States based on her 15 years experience working with children in Colombia and Latin America.

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In an economy when people are feeling the pressure of job insecurity, this weekend’s “Larry Crowne” plays out a common scenario of people being let go from their jobs. In Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts’ feel-good new romantic comedy, it features Hanks as war veteran Larry Crowne who loses his job at a big box department store for not having enough education backing him up. He decides to goback to college at a local community college and ends up in a professional speaking class taught by Roberts’ burnt-out character, Mercedes.

Larry Crowne echoes some excellent lessons about life and education.

1. 

   Larry Crowne post-makeover

   A mid-life crisis is the perfect time to reinvent yourself. Midlife crisises are happening to people in their 20s now, so regardless of when it hits for you, there’s not better time to reinvent yourself. Crowne gets a makeover, trades his car in for a scooter, and gets some new friends. Changes like this can go a long way to making you feel better when life kicks you in the pants.

2. It’s never too late to go back to college. If you’re being passed up for jobs or promotions because you never went to college, it’s never too late to get that academic edge. Night school and online collegemake it possible for professionals to gain higher education while keeping your day job. Did you hear about the 99-year-old man who graduated from college recently? Even though he jokes it took him 80 years, he got ‘er done. Never too late to start.

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It’s commencement speech season and that means celebrities and politicians everywhere are receiving honorary degrees from the universities. Often times these degrees are given as a “thank you” for speaking to graduating classes.  Over here at My Colleges and Careers we decided to see just how many celebrities have such degrees from institutions they may have never even attended.  Here are a few of the most interesting we found:

1. Bob Barker- The popular host of “The Price is Right” was awarded an honorary doctorate degree of humane letters from Drury University.

2. Kermit the Frog- Our man in green received an honorary Doctorate of Amphibious Letters from Southampton College after speaking at their commencement ceremonies in 1996.

3.  Meryl Streep- Meryl received an honorary doctorate degree from Princeton University as a 60th birthday gift.

4. George Foreman- You can start calling it your “Doctor George Foreman Grill.”  This heavy-weight champion earned this prestigious title after being awarded an honorary doctorate degree from  Houston Graduate School of Theology for his charity work with children.

5. Bill Cosby- This lively comedian has received more than a dozen honorary degrees. Among the institutions to bestow the honor are: Yale, Berklee College of Music, University of Pennsylvania, and Amherst College.  We should also make note that Mr. Cosby earned a legit doctorate degree from the University of Massachusetts.

6. Dolly Pardon- The University of Tennessee gave this songbird her title of doctor because of her  outstanding achievement in entertainment and philanthropy.

7. Billy Joel- Billy Joel never managed to graduate high school but that certainly didn’t keep him from doctor status. Billy has racked up four different honorary doctorate degrees.

8. Oprah Winfrey- This should come as no shock to anyone, especially since she’s opened up her own schools. Oprah’s doctor credentials are from Howard University when they awarded her a doctorate of humanities in 2007

9. Steven Tyler- Even the newest judge on American Idol has some doctorate degree bling. Steven has an honorary doctorate from Berklee School of Music.

10. Stephen Colbert- Not only does this well-known comedian have his own flavor of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, he also has an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Knox College. During Stephen Colbert’s acceptance speech he graciously accepted his new degree and left the students with this bit of advice:

“”First, being pre-approved for a credit card does not mean you have to apply for it. And lastly, the best career advice I can give you is to get your own TV show. It pays well, the hours are good, and you are famous. And eventually some very nice people will give you a doctorate in fine arts for doing jack squat. “

If you’d like to earn a degree that will actually qualify you for employment and is worth more than the paper it is printed on, check out our list of The Top 10 Online Universities.