明清时期，社会上升渠道较为闭塞，科举考试作为官方选拔人才的制度，是普通百姓改变自身身份地位的主要路径。因而在明清时期，科举制度的繁荣在全国各地造就了众多科举家族，甘肃通渭牛氏家族便是其中一支。科举既以选才为目标，故而凡欲通过科举考试光耀门楣的家族，往往都拥有重视教育的家风。通渭牛氏之所以能够在儒学相对落后的甘肃创造出“父子两进士”的佳话，使牛氏家族成为晚清甘肃小有名气的科举家族，正是得益于家族代代传承的重视教育的家风。
牛氏家族在山高地寒的通渭县，于明末动荡之中备受劣绅欺凌，励志考科举、成士绅，于困厄之际根植了重教家风。牛氏族人在有清一代将重视教育的良好家风承继、完善，数代族人虽生活艰苦也仍旧坚持读书、应举，从“力耕”到“舌耕”，均是为了参加科举考试而做出的努力。经过多代低级功名的累积，在晚清牛树梅时获得进士的高级功名，后来牛树梅继子牛瑗亦成进士。高级功名的获得不仅使得牛氏家族成为明耀一方的科举家族，使家族实现了向上的社会流动，摆脱困窘境地，也让他们走上仕宦之路。牛氏族人受到良好家风的熏陶，为官时勤政爱民、清廉自持，被百姓尊为“青天”。
经过科举而仕宦的牛氏家族进一步利用已有影响力，通过与其它科举家族的联姻、交友，维持并延续家族的重教家风，力图实现家族家风、功名的恒久。而通过刊印《牛氏家言》《省斋全集》等族人言论的汇编，牛氏家族的家风得到继续承传并宣传远扬，光耀门楣的同时，也保存了珍贵的传统家族教育史料。晚清社会动荡，牛氏族人于仕宦中着力维持社会秩序，关注家乡发展，也万般强调延续家族内部的重教家风。崛起于清晚期的牛氏家族，随着科举停废，未能依靠科举考试继续提升家族实力，实现更强盛的发展。但牛氏家族并未从此一蹶不振，而是凭借其重教家风，在新环境中寻找着其它的教学、仕宦等出路。

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the channels for enhancing social status were relatively closed, and the imperial examination, as an official talent selection system, was the main path for ordinary people to change their status. Therefore, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the prosperity of the imperial examination system created many imperial examination families all over the country, including the Nius in Tongwei, Gansu Province. Since the purpose of the imperial examination was to select the talent, families that wanted to glorify and illuminate themselves through the examination often had a family tradition of valuing education. The reason why the Nius was able to create the story of "father and son scholars" in Gansu, where Confucianism was relatively backward, and made the Nius become a imperial examination family of some renown in Gansu in the late Qing Dynasty, is that the family had a tradition of attaching importance to education passed down from generation to generation. 
In Tongwei County which was in the cold mountain highlands, the Nius was bullied by bad gentry in the turmoil of the late Ming Dynasty. They tried their best to pass the imperial examinations and become gentry, and rooted in the family tradition of emphasizing education when they were in trouble. In the Qing Dynasty, the Nius clan inherited and improved the good family tradition that attached great importance to education. Several generations of the family still persisted in studying and taking exams despite of the hard life. From "force farming" to "tongue farming", they are all efforts to take the imperial examination. After many generations of accumulation of low-level merit, in the late Qing Dynasty, Niu Shumei received the high level of scholarship, and later Niu Shumei's stepson, Niu Yuan, also became a scholar. The acquisition of high ranking titles not only enabled the Nius family to become a locally renowned imperial examination family, allowing the family to achieve upward social mobility and allowed them to embark on the path of eminence. The Niu clan was nurtured by good family spirit, and was respected by the people as "Qingtian" for their diligence, love for the people and honesty.
After the imperial examinations and officials of the Nius family to further use existing influence, through marriage with other imperial families, friends, to maintain and perpetuate the family's emphasis on education family style, trying to achieve the family style, merit of the constant.And through the publication of "Nius's family words", "Xingzhai the whole collection" and other compilations of the clan's words, the Nius family's family style has continued to be inherited and publicized far and wide, shining the luster of the family, while also preserving the precious traditional family education historical materials.During the social turmoil of the late Qing Dynasty, the Nius family worked hard to maintain social order and concern for the development of their hometown, and also emphasized the continuation of the family tradition of education within the family.The Nius family, which rose to prominence in the late Qing Dynasty, was unable to rely on the imperial examinations to continue to enhance the family's strength and achieve stronger development as the imperial examinations were discontinued. However, the Nius family did not fall into disrepair from then on, but relied on its family style of education to find other ways to teach and serve in the new environment.