When I was still shooting 4x5 B&W I always carried two exposure meters, a LunaSix 3 and a "vintage" Pentax Spot Meter. I very seldom used the LunaSix. I determined which part of the scene was most important and what exposure it required to maintain the detail necessary for what I wanted to see in the final print. I then metered the opposite end of the scene and tried to determine the necessary development necessary to hold the highlights as well. Again the "expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights" scenario, now referred to digitally as HDR. And of course I am referring to a "properly" used HDR procedure, not the "over the top" versions I see online, my opinion only. Personally, I do not yet use the HDR approach as such, since the "Optimal Digital Exposure" seems to produce what I need when the situation is such that it can be put into use. But of course similar restrictions apply to HDR exposures to some extent. The possibility of "overexposing" was not part of my vocabulary then, except for perhaps an occasional mistake on my part. The final product was a combination of exposure and development, which together produced a negative that could, with some degree of manipulation, produce the print I had envisioned when the shutter was fired. Did it always work to my expectations?. No, it did not, which meant a higher degree of manipulation during the printing cycle than I would prefer. However, it did usually produce a negative that contained enough information to provide a good print in the final outcome. I learned a lot from Ansel's writings, which are still relevant in the digital darkroom/Lightroom. It is after all the foundation of photography, and Ansel found a way to expand on that and make it more technical and indeed, controllable. I agree with the premise that there is no such thing as a "correct" exposure. It all depends on the vision of the photographer and the ability to get enough light hitting the sensor to capture the full range of detail. The rest is as it always has been, processing.
Gary