Did you read the blog post from the CSS SQL Server group engineers? The AWE switch is NOT ignored and it is recommended as a best practice. Here is a snippet from the blog post:
So, the purpose of AWE for 32bit systems was to access more memory. But for 64bit, AWE APIs are used to avoid a working set trim. So SQL Server will automatically use the AWE APIs provided the 'lock pages in memory' privilege is set (and your are using Enterprise Edition). If you want to read more about the AWE APIs, look here in MSDN: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366527.aspx
"Beliefs" get in the way of learning.