Paladin is one of the top 3 classes in 5e and one of the few MAD classes that work.So I’m a long time player, 30+ years and I’m playing a human Paladin and I am doing a plain, old boring human. Not a variant human. A plain old boring human. So… I took it because I rolled kinda poor for all but 3 ability scores and it let me level those other 3 to a plus 0 and play an affective Paladin. You really shouldn’t slam something as “for newbs” when there are perfectly valid reasons to run with it newb or not.
Human Paladin working is an anomaly.
Original Human was designed to be easy to run. It was designed so anyone could make an effective human PC with little additional complexity or thought. There's nothing wrong with liking it.
However "+1 to all stats" is as "this was designed so you don't have to think about it" as you can get. You don't even get a bonus skill, tool,or language. Not "Humany" race feature.
Just "Add 1 to all your stats. Done". Perfect for first timers and quick builds.