France to overhaul the baccalaureate in tricky school reform For over two centuries French students have faced a gruelling rite of passage: the week-long high school exit exam and its infamous philosophical essay. The philosophy brain-twister will remain, but the government has unveiled proposals for a major revamp of the rest of the baccalaureate, tackling a "national monument" based on a structure created under Napoleon in 1808. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES from the education minister