Tenured and making 11k? Probably not bad money in 1950.
In Boston many of the part-time professors are making that now. There are so many Ph.D.'s around that universities take advantage of their situation. Starting salaries for full-time, tenure track professors can be very low at some well known schools. Yes, lower than elementary school teachers!
True, in 1950, $4000 was good. Unfortunately, I got that in the 1970s (which is one reason I left.) Even tenured professors teach 4-5 courses/semester (of 20 to 100 students) and grade their own papers. Things are supposed to be better now.
Money Magazine rated a college professor job as the second-best job in the country.
I have considered it, but it just is not worth it IMO. The competition makes competition for journalism jobs look easy.
It is horrible trying to find a tenured position from what I hear and the pay is awful unless you land a good job.
There is just no way I want to go through that.