I agree it's the end of ignorance but there is clearly more to it than that.  The pali cannon goes into pretty good depth about the various jhanas or states of consciousness that once 'achieves' for lack of a better word. I have personally experienced the first jhana on a few occasions now.  It's real...it's more than just lack of ignorance....it however is also not even close to enlightenment.

I guess in a sense it really is just the end of ignorance, but it's not like you can say oh yeah I'm one with everything...or there is no I and claim enlightenment...there is WAY more to it than that.  Waking up from the ignorance like a person wakes up in a lucid dream perhaps captures it.  That kind of end of ignorance probably has a lot to do with enlightenment.  It's the direct perception of the viel of ignorance being removed...but even then it's more than that. 

I'd also agree that there are degrees of enlightenment..and perhaps it makes WAY more sense to talk about it in that regard.  For instance I feel as though I'm a good bit more 'enlightened' today than I was 5 years ago.  I'm clearly not an enlightened being like a buddha, but I have grown on the path.

If enlightenment was referred to as a continuum like this more so than a single end state (which I do believe exists) then it would be taken seriously more often and it would perhaps also end a lot of the confusion. 

I don't know....  I do know this though.  The word enlightenment carries a lot of baggage with it.  It's almost like the word God these day's.  Our generation believes they can read about something in a book or read about another persons experience and then claim they have some sort of understanding...this is certainly not enlightenment.  Understanding is not the same as absence of ignorance in this case.

Ok enough rambling out of the peanut gallery.

Peace