ArcGIS 10.1 metadata export to XML

What I want to do is fairly straightforward and I simply cannot get it to work. I want to export metadata for a feature class within a geodatabase as a standalone XML file. Some metadata elements are in the ArcGIS Style section, while others...including very important information like the spatial reference/coordinate system/projection information is in the "FGDC Metadata" Read Only section in gray at the bottom of the record. When I export from ArcCatalog 10.1....none of the important information in the FGDC Read Only section appears in my standalone XML file. This seems really strange to me. Even if I "upgrade" the metadata those FGDC Read Only elements do not export into my XML. This seems pretty unacceptable to me, am I doing something wrong?

(I need the stand alone XML file to index into our OpenGeoportal SOLR instance.)