If not for this scaling BS students taking subjects with easier workload end up with higher ATAR, would you think that's a better outcome for all?
Without speaking for her, I don't think Claudia was saying the
idea of scaling is bogus, scaling is absolutely a necessary (but perhaps imperfect in some ways) thing in attempting to equalise the workload and difficulty of different subject choices. Nothing could do it perfectly, the current system does it relatively fairly imo. What I think Claudia was saying though was that the idea of
picking high scaling subjects purely for success is bogus. You will almost certainly do far better choosing subjects you have an interest in and are at least somewhat passionate about. And this I certainly agree with!
While it happens, scaling shouldn't determine your course choices, at least not over more tangible benefits like furthering your knowledge for tertiary study. I get it being a consideration, it would be silly not to consider it, but the fact that it plays
such a large role in subject decisions for many people is evidence of the dangerous trend of the HSC being more about the end game and the final number than about the actual process of education and enrichment, which subtracts from the value of doing it in the first place. It's what leads to some teachers telling students to rote learn the 20/20 essays that are handed to them instead of actually learning how to argue a point, or to regurgitating a method in Maths without actually understanding the concepts behind it
#rant