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Reading the descriptions of these racial traits, it seems to me the names should be switched.
"Adaptability: Half-elves receive Skill Focus, as a bonus feat, at 1st level." (p6)
Sounds skilled to me, not adaptable. Adaptable means constantly changing.
What's described above is a one-time boost to a skill to make the character more ... Skilled.
"Skilled: Humans gain one additional skill rank whenever they gain a level." (p7)
Sounds pretty adaptable to me. Skilled means you're better at one thing. What's described above is being flexible and being able to adapt to different situations at different levels. Adaptability.
+1
half-elf: +3, once, never changes
human: +1 per level, can assign to different skill each level.
Sure, at levels 1 and 2, the half-elf is the better choice. But that's it; if your campaign has any legs to it at all, the human's version is immeasurably better.
Half-elves get lots of elven stuff and lots of human stuff; it's only when looking at the details that you realize the half-elven version is watered down, which is what you'd expect.
In short, I've no problem with the mechanic working the way it does.
Yepp. It's about the choice of words. That's all.