U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson spent part of Thursday in an uncommon setting during the busy campaign season: answering questions from 12th-grade students at Steubenville High School.

"They're going to take over. They need to be ready," Johnson, a Republican from Ohio's 6th district said.

This election year, Johnson is being challenged by Charlie Wilson, a Bridgeport native who previously held Johnson's seat.

Both Johnson and Wilson agree that improvement -- especially in the job sector -- is difficult to see in the two years since their last campaign battle in 2010.

But their opposing ideologies come across when they discuss how they think the problems should be fixed.

Johnson said he believes that businesses need a chance to create jobs without regulations that hinder that.

"America is headed down the wrong path and it's because of that regulatory burden, the over-taxation, the war on coal, struggling energy sector. Because we're not going after the coal that can fill America's energy needs. These are just some of the things that have got to change if we're going to give job creators a chance to create jobs," Johnson said.

Wilson said that he thinks Johnson needs to own up to "what happened on his watch."

"Bill Johnson doesn't believe in manufacturing. If he did he wouldn't have signed on to trade with Columbia and South Korea and Panama. He actually voted with President (Barack) Obama to trade with those countries, which has been one of the devastating factors of this district," Wilson said. "We have seen the closing of RG Steel. We have seen the mills sold off for scrap. We know a lot of people lost their health care, lost their pensions. It's been very devastating."

Johnson and Wilson have both agreed to participate in some debates leading up to November's general election. The first debate is scheduled later this month in Washington County, Ohio, and another is set to be held in mid-October in the Youngstown area.

Wilson's campaign manager said the men area trying to schedule a debate in the Ohio Valley as well.

--For more Decision 2012 coverage, visit WTOV9.com's special section.