The things you say are true, but UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTACES.
I wsuggest you follow the suggestions in the camera manual.

Center-weighted metering mode is largely a metering balance that gives more priority to the center portion of the image field and less to the outer portion of the camera's image field of view. It is appropriate to apply this mode when the prime subject is central to the composition, like a portrait, and is what you want to expose for and you want to have less emphasis on exposure by the area around the main subject.

The rule of thumb with B&W and color negative films is to expose for the shadows, and for reversal transparency films to expose for the highlights. In other words set or adjust your effective film speed to assure you obtain adequate exposure in shadows to record shadow detail (either B&W or color negative), and with color slide and transparency films base the effective film speed on an exposure level that will obtain good image detail in the highlights.

David,
I understand that from what you said I should meter from the shadows?

Not really, you should meter for the entire subject, but set your EFFECTIVE film speed so you obtain an exposure in the shadows that yield good shadow detail if you are shooting a negative film either color or black and white.